


Approach With Caution

by Songbird13



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluffy Nundu, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Hogwarts Houses, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Talk of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:11:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Songbird13/pseuds/Songbird13
Summary: Andromeda Penrose is the new healer working with MACUSA and Percival Graves begins to work with her. While working with her, he learns that you can't always judge a person by their looks alone.This is currently a work in progress and I'll update the chapter list as I go along:Chapter 1: Meeting Andromeda PenroseChapter 2: The Chimera WandChapter 3: Picquery learns of Andromeda's secretChapter 4: Andromeda is good with magical creaturesChapter 5: Percival becomes the patientChapter 6: Andromeda gets suspicious (Andromeda's POV)Chapter 7: Andromeda makes a discovery (Andromeda's POV)Chapter 8: A fluffy nundu (Andromeda's POV)Chapter 9: Waking up





	1. Meeting Andromeda Penrose

**Author's Note:**

> This has taken a while, and I really should be completing my Star Trek works, but this plot bunny wanted attention instead :D
> 
> This chapter includes Percival Graves initially meeting Andromeda Penrose, the new healer working with MACUSA. Time for him to learn some things about her. 
> 
> This came to me late at night, so I apologise if there are any errors.
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys reading this.

One of the very first things that Percival Graves learned upon becoming an auror, was that life did not begin nor end with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Instead, it required more departments in MACUSA alone that he couldn’t even begin to count, let alone name. A few of these departments that he _could_ name, were the Control of Magical Beasts, the Curse Removal Department, Research of Unknown Magical Items, the Medical Ward and even Wand Permits.

All of these departments and more, are integral to helping to keep the Department of Magical Law Enforcement running smoothly and Percival had known that since he was able to walk, as his parents had drummed it into his head from a very young age. He had learned that he should understand all of the strengths of other people, as a person’s strengths defined them and each one had a different place that it fit perfectly. He knew this, and he had all of his life. Despite this, Percival could feel a migraine stirring in the forefront of his mind, as he tried to get his head around the concept that the new aurors, straight from the Academy, didn’t understand that other departments and people could help them to excel.

Thinking about it, Percival was just going to have to try to show these senseless freshly graduated aurors that there was more to life than them. But how to get it into their apparently very thick skulls?

As Percival was thinking through how he could teach these newbies how to learn about other people, he felt a new presence enter the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. One of several benefits of being the Director of Magical Security that Percival could think of, included being able to add to the already powerful wards around the department, to give him an added advantage over people entering the secure area. The wards helped, as they allowed him to sense the magical signature and nuances of each person that entered the area.

Without even exiting his office, Percival could tell that this person was female. He could never understand how he knew, but he assumed, in this case especially, it had something to do with the sense of patience, calm and serenity, mixed with an apparent desire to be seen as dainty, while a massive amount of power sat just below the surface. Along with the sense of her magic, he could almost imagine a smell of light perfume, like violets and mint leaves, alongside worn books and something spicy that brings up an image of Skele-Gro in his mind’s eye, making him unintentionally shudder at the thought of the gruesome potion that he had unfortunately encountered several times in his career.

However, he could unequivocally say that he did not recognise this magical signature, although it reminded someone from his childhood. It reminds him of autumn leaves, laughter in the snow and the smell of magical ozone, from too many spells being fired in a small amount of time, alongside the powerful feeling of winning a duel.

The more he dwelled on this new person in the department, the more he wondered who she was. To pique his interest, he decided that he should welcome the newcomer and see if there was anything that the department could do for her.

When he left his office, he saw the aurors in various states of work or socialising, all about normal. He also noted that when he entered the bull-pen, the noise level died down considerably, as his aurors tried to act as if they were working, despite being nowhere near their own desks. Percival held in both a smile and a sigh at their actions. He knew what was happening in the department and frankly, he understood that the aurors needed down time and they couldn’t function without relaxing slightly. He also noted that as long as it wasn’t affecting their work negatively, it wasn’t fair to prevent this.

He also saw noticed the newcomer. She was female, much like he had figured although she was much slighter than he had assumed, especially with the sense of so much raw power hiding just below the surface. She had chocolate brown hair, tied up intricately into a twist that was held together by a clip. Her eyes were a similar brown colour and seemed to take in everything discretely, eyes wandering around the room slowly, not focusing on anyone for too long, while a small smile graced her lips.

Her head was head high and he could tell that her back was held straight, as if exuding confidence alongside a tell-tale rigid upbringing. Her complexion was pale, like she needed a little more sunlight, but it didn’t look unhealthy on her, despite being heavily contrasted with a black coat that hugged her waist and shoulders, before falling gracefully, to sit just above her skirt’s hemline. It was closed together with two lines of shiny silver buttons and a very bright red belt that seemed to compliment the darkness of the coat. Above the coat, he could see a royal blue scarf hugging the mid-line of her throat. She also wore a pair of shiny black heeled shoes that had a strap across the bridge of her foot that Percival recognised as large fashion nowadays.

While her right hand was free, hanging to her side, her left hand held a black leather bag that finished her ensemble well.

She did not look, Percival noticed, as if she was haggard, stressed, scared or angry, as many people who entered the department looked. In fact, she looked like a cat that had settled in, standing as confident as he did, as if she owned the department. Being completely honest, he wasn’t too sure how he felt about this.

Instead of staring at the poor woman any more, he decided to take a step forward.

“Good morning, Ma’am. Is there something we can help you with?”

Sharp, but warm brown eyes were suddenly fixed on him, as if looking into his soul and if Percival Graves were a lesser man, he may have cowered under her stare. Instead, he utilised all of his training to stay completely still, but relaxed and keep her gaze.

A smile graced her face and her eyes seemed to lose their sharpness.

“Forgive me,” she said in a distinct accent that was like cut-glass. He knew this accent, as his pen-pal, Theseus Scamander had a similar accent, making him immediately place the label ‘British’ on the woman before him. She stepped forward a few steps, her heels clicking along the tiled floor as she went, before she stopped before him and extended her hand. “I’m one of the new healers working with the Medical Ward at MACUSA and St Augustus Hospital, Andromeda Penrose.”

“Percival Graves. It’s a pleasure Miss Penrose,” he replied, as he took the outstretched hand and shook it firmly. When he released her hand, he looked at her intrigued. “Was there anything that you needed?”

“No. I’m just a very firm believer that it’s polite to introduce oneself.” She paused, and her smile faltered very slightly, instead being replaced by confusion. “Is that not a common occurrence here at MACUSA?”

A chuckle bubbled from Percival’s lips without precedence. “It doesn’t happen very often in this department, but criminals and dark wizards and witches don’t tend to introduce themselves to us.”

The comment that was meant to be humorous, instead made the woman in front of his bristle, as if she had been threatened, her magic spiking dangerously, wrapping around her fiercely in an instinctive defensive manoeuvre. Her eyes also darkened, and her lips pursed for a millisecond, before a mask fell and the serene woman from before returned, her magic feeling more controlled.

If Percival wasn’t so confident in his observation abilities, then he might have thought that he imagined the entire change, as it happened so fast. Instead, he felt his stomach drop with dread. _This is why the Director shouldn’t try to use humour. Leave that to the aurors._

Miss Penrose nodded delicately. “Indeed.” Her voice was crisp and very slightly sharper than before. “That is completely understandable.” She smiled once more, but this smile did not seem to reach her eyes as they were still heavily guarded. “I imagine that you have very important work to get back to, Director and so I shall leave you to it. I apologise if I’ve wasted your time.” With her quickly spoken statement, she turned on her heel and was gracefully leaving the department, a waft of violet scented perfume in her wake alongside the sound of retreating heel clicks on the tiles, leaving Percival feeling like a bit of an idiot.

He turned back, to see his aurors looking at him.

“Well, if she’s gonna be treatin’ us, I don’t think I’d mind bein’ hurt, even if she is a might sharp,” one of the more seasoned aurors, piped up, forcing an exasperated sigh from Percival.

“Warrington, don’t you have work to do?”

Warrington looked from the now-empty doorway that he had been staring at to look at Percival. “Yeah, but you gotta admit, she’s cute.”

“She’s like a third of your age,” one of the more brazen senior aurors quipped heartily, making Warrington laugh. “Besides, your wife’d kill you if she knew you were oglin’ someone else.”

Percival felt an internal glee that he did his hardest to keep off his face, as Warrington visibly cringed. To be fair, Mrs Warrington, while being a wonderful woman, who could bake and cook beautifully, was a terrifying lady in her own right, due to her well-aimed threats, usually insinuating that Warrington could cook for himself and bake for the department. One way to get the aurors to listen was to threaten their treats that Mrs Warrington would so lovingly provide frequently.

As laughter rained through the department, Percival took his leave, escaping back into his office, a single eye-roll being directed at his senior aurors beforehand.

He then proceeded to sit down at his desk and pen a letter to his pen-pal and one of his best friends, Theseus Scamander.

 

 

_Theseus,_

_Can I just say that despite all of my training on how to communicate, it seems that I am still incapable of doing so? (Please imagine me wallowing in self-pity and a hefty dose of embarrassment here). I am also wondering if Politeness 101 is a lesson that is frequently taught in Hogwarts._

_So, a little back story, old friend:_

_We have a new healer working with MACUSA and she has just introduced herself, but I said something about dark wizards and witches not tending to introduce themselves, straight after she had introduced herself and so I think I unintentionally insulted her. She must think that I think that she’s a dark witch now. (Now just imagine a healthy dose of exasperation. I’m sure you’ll be able to do that without a problem)._

_I do hope that she has not taken this interaction to heart, as the aurors will be much less polite than I am, if they’re injured and end up in her care. They tend to be quite rude when they’re in pain. If she’s unable to cope, then this may be a short-lived career for her, much like my newbies from the Academy. Please, tell me that we weren’t as bad as the newbies. I swear they have no sense, in any form and it’s terrifying that these people will be protecting the country. Are your newbies any better?_

_How is the hunt going? It’s slowed down a little bit here, so I’m sure that we’ll be on high alert soon, same as you._

_Why did we both think this was a good job? It’s extremely stressful. (You don’t need to answer that Theseus. Consider it to be a rhetorical question)._

_I can only wish that things will begin to calm down and go back to normal-whatever that is._

_Also, it turns out that I owe you 5 dragots the next time that I see you, as you were right, as usual. Maggie and Wesley announced their engagement three days ago. You will have to let me know how you always work it out, at some point. Talking of engagements, how are your advances towards the lovely and lively Auror Kensington going?_

_And you will have to relay my congratulations to your brother for successfully irritating the Sudanese and the African governments so well that they’re unable to say his name without contempt or pride. I don’t know how he manages it, but you should have seen Director Shambala’s face when he told me about his most recent encounter in the last firecall. I had to use every ounce of composure to not laugh in his face and probably push him out of the call._

_I hope that you and your family are well, Theseus._

_Your good friend,_

_Percival Graves_

 

 

Once Percival had signed off the letter, he placed it to one side of his desk to allow the ink to dry. He would send it off with his owl tonight. For now, he places the embarrassment from a few minutes before with the new healer to one side and focused on his work.

The following letter from Theseus, assured him that ‘Politeness 101,’ wasn’t a lesson taught in the British Wizarding School and he wrote with mirth and pride when speaking of his baby brother causing more chaos in the world. He then called him something that was decidedly not a very nice name (that isn’t suitable for any readers), for asking when his engagement was, before mocking him for making an absolute fool of himself when making introductions to the new healer. He also mentioned that his cousin, Bella, had finally made it out of the country, much to everyone’s pleasure.

Bella had been a conversation topic for years, as she had gone to live with the Scamander brothers in her fifth year of Hogwarts when it was discovered that her mother was being physically abusive towards her. Despite never meeting Bella, he had always felt sympathetic of her situation and he must have had an echo of Theseus’s feelings, as he felt slightly protective of her.

After reading Theseus’s letter, Percival didn’t think about the new healer for a few weeks, locking his embarrassment away while he focused on the stress of trying to put a stop to the illegal smuggling rings coming into the country, while trying to keep check of the whereabouts of Gellert Grindlewald in the world.

That was until he had locked up his office for the night, only two night-staff left in the bull-pen that he acknowledged as he left, before walking down the corridor to try to get home after a long day. He needed food, a wash, a change of clothes and bed-in that order. He was half-way down the corridor, when his magical sense picked up on someone in the corridor, just before he heard a small snuffle. Immediately, all tiredness was gone, adrenaline fuelling his blood, as he removed his wand from its holster and moved towards the noise in the darkened corridor.

When he approached an alcove, he was able to see a figure, curled up on the floor, dark robes flowing on the floor and legs hunched up to the person’s chest, while their face lay against their knees. Even from where he was stood, it was evident that the person was trying their best to not make a noise and be noticed.

As much as there was a part of his mind telling him to leave the person to their own feelings, his heart was telling him otherwise. This was a battle that his mind lost out on very quickly as he knelt down on the floor his wand still in his hand and his coat rustling slightly as he did, catching the person’s attention.

Her head whipped up so fast that Percival felt himself wincing as her neck cracked, sounding painful, although she didn’t seem to notice.

Despite the fact that the woman in front of him was curled into a ball, her hair messy, coming out of its careful style, tear-stained cheeks and red, puffy eyes, Percival immediately recognised this woman.

“Miss Penrose, right?”

He watched as her expressive eyes widened in fear as she stared at his wand that was still drawn, in his hand and pointing in her direction. Percival hadn’t thought that she could become a smaller target, but it turned out that she could, as she scrambled back, plastering her back against the stone wall, as fear drizzled from her like smoke pouring from a cauldron.

He looked down at his ebony and silver wand and slowly moved it, watching as she moved away from the wand as he did so. He slowly, but smoothly, reholstered the wand and held his hands up in a universal sign of surrender to the young healer, who seemed to relax minutely.

Percival took the opportunity to look over her. While dishevelled, she didn’t look like she had any physical injury or ailments, but she still looked terrified. “I’m not going to hurt you Miss Penrose,” he reassured, trying to make his voice as calm as he could, exuding as much calm as possible, trying to help it relate to her. “Can you tell me what happened?”

He watched as she took in the words and gave a tiny shake of her head before wiping the tears from her left cheek. “It’s stupid,” she mumbled.

If they were in an area that was any more crowded, then Percival wouldn’t have been able to hear her, however, in this quiet corridor, he just about caught what she had said.

“I doubt that it is stupid.”

Her eyes watched him fearfully, although he noted something else underneath-disgust. She scoffed delicately.

“I doubt it’s stupid,” he tried to reassure again.

“How would you know _Director_?” Her voice was seething and dark, her eyes now dangerous.

_Approach with caution._

“Miss Penrose.” He paused before making sure that he had eye contact with her. “Andromeda. If our positions were switched right now, would you believe that anything making me upset would be stupid?”

He watched as the words sank in and her shoulders sagged in defeat, all danger disappearing from her eyes, leaving only and emotionally exhausted young woman, still stained from her tears.

Her scoff this time was much less pronounced. “I doubt that I would find you like this Director.”

Percival moved slightly, his kneecaps crunching along the floor as he tried to find a more comfortable position as his lower legs were beginning to numb.

“Don’t be so sure. I might not be as strong as you think.” He moved slowly, reaching with one hand to his inside pocket to retrieve a handkerchief, being watched constantly by wary eyes. He then presented her with the handkerchief, that she thankfully took, before moving his hand away, to show that he still wasn’t a threat to her.

She wiped her eyes and cheeks, smearing the little bit of eye make-up that she had on, although the tears had already done most of the work.

“So, what happened?” Percival asked as he moved, so that he was sitting on the ground, his long coat billowing around him, gathering dust. He wasn’t too worried about the coat, or his suit, as he was very good at cleaning charms. It was an ability you had to learn if you wanted to keep clothes for more than one messy fight as an auror. “And I promise I won’t think that it’s stupid, whatever you say.”

Andromeda closed her eyes, as if steeling herself, before taking a deep breath and opening her eyes again to focus them on the man in front of her.

“I had a few difficult patients today.” There was a pause, but Percival was reluctant to fill the silence, as he believed that it might force her to clam up once more. Another steadying breath later and Percival watched as her eyes lost their focus as they filled with more tears, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke. “I dealt with two children today. They both had injuries that corresponded with that of physical abuse. The younger child couldn’t even speak, even though he must be 5 years old.” She looked down at her knees as she spoke. “I can imagine how they felt: scared, alone, hurt, used, as if there’s no good left in the world, like everyone is a threat. I can’t change that for them. No-one can do that now, but them.” She sighed as more tears fell from her eyes.

“Miss Penrose, I’m so sorry- “

The handkerchief scrunched in her hand. “How can I help someone when all that they’ve known is pain and suffering. They can never know that I won’t hurt them. How can I tell them that I know how they feel?” she asked, in no more than a whisper. Percival then watched as she looked toward the ceiling, placing her head back on the wall behind her.

It was then that Percival saw a thin line across her neck. It was stark white against her skin, starburst patterns protruding from the edges. One end seemed to travel down her collar bone and snake into the neckline of her blouse, while the other side seemed to travel into the hair at the base of her neck. Percival recognised this scar for what it is, created by a fast-traveling whip curse, it would have burned the skin as it touched. Most people wouldn’t be able to survive a curse like that being so close to their chest, let alone being wrapped around their necks. _How had she survived?_

As much as Percival wanted to ask, he didn’t. Instead, he took her last words and replayed them in his head. _How can I tell them that I know how they feel?_

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked in a soft voice. Watery brown eyes travelled from their staring point at the ceiling to look at him before she nodded. “You said that you knew how they felt. Were you abused Andromeda?”

He heard as her breath hitched and she gulped loudly. She turned her eyes away from him, instead looking over his shoulder. When she spoke, it was no more than a whisper and he had to struggle to hear her. “Is it abuse if you didn’t know you were being abused at the time?”

“Yes,” he replied decisively, trying to get his voice around the lump that was forming in his throat.

“Then yes.” Percival opened his mouth to speak, but she spoke instead. “My…my mother isn’t very good at not getting her own way. She gave me her conditions,” a sigh escaped before she continued, “and I foolishly thought that I would be able to get away with changing the rules.” The scoff this time was indisputably directed at herself.

“That’s not your fault.”

“I didn’t listen, and I paid the price!” The loud voice booming through the corridor almost made him jump as she turned to him lightning quick, eyes flashing with power and tears. Her shoulders then sagged and she brought her eyes down to the floor. “I won’t allow these children to have to endure the same,” she said, much quieter this time.

Percival watched as she began to push herself up from her position, swaying slightly when she got to her feet, the professional mask now firmly back in place as she looked up to him once more, despite the tears that had tracked marks down her face.

“My apologies for wasting your time Director. I imagine that you have enough stress as it is. Thank you for your help.” She handed the handkerchief back to him, a little more crumpled than before and he placed it into his pocket.

This sounded a lot like her rebuke from when she had first introduced herself.

“No. You haven’t wasted my time Andromeda. In fact, I’d like to help,” he claimed as he made his own way to his feet and stood in front of the healer.

“Excuse me?” Surprise coloured her voice as much as it did her face.

“I would like to help,” he repeated, slightly slower so that there was no miscommunication. “One way that you can make sure that these children won’t be abused again is to sort out their abusers. Between you and me, I have the ability to sort that out, as long as you can help them to identify their abusers of course.”

Despite the tear stains on her cheeks and puffy eyes, Percival watched in slight awe as she stood straighter, smoothing down her skirt and her eyes warmed considerably, as her magical signature changed. This time, instead of exuding fear, he could feel rolls of pride, power and determination, all surrounded by a streak of stubbornness. “You’ll help me to help these children?”

“They deserve it, Miss Penrose.”

Her mouth turned into a smile that did finally reach her eyes, even just a little. “Yes, they do.” She paused, about to turn on her heel, before surging forward and pulling him into an embrace, despite her height being much shorter than Percival’s. “Thank you, Director.” She then released him, and Percival watched as she turned away, before turning her entire body towards him and stopping. “By the way, I’m a Mediwitch.” She gave a beaming smile that was just about reaching her eyes now. “It’s _Madame_ Penrose.”

She then turned once more and moved from the corridor, leaving him alone again, not too sure what had just happened.

Instead of reflecting on it in the corridor, he decided it would be a good idea to go home and follow his plan from earlier. As he was eating, a thought came to his attention, that Andromeda Penrose is a strong-willed and independent woman, who just needed reassuring occasionally. When he thought about it, she was a lot like Theseus. He smiled to himself when he thought how well that they would both get along, with their apparent similarities and differences. Maybe he would have to introduce them to one another when Theseus comes to America again.

But before he could do that, he needed to plan what the best way to help the abused children would be, beginning with a meeting with _Madame_ Penrose, preferably one that’s in a better setting than a darkened empty corridor.

 


	2. The Chimera Wand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percival finds out that there is a secret behind Andromeda's wand.

When Percival came in the next day, it was to a different feeling in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to the point that it made him wary, prompting him to bring his magic to his fingertips in defence, without question. Being an auror and now the Director of Security, he was very good at listening to his instincts.

When he entered the department, he noted the night staff packing up, as normal, but what caught his attention was that his office door was open. For that to be open, it should have alerted him, unless it was someone who had disabled the wards (which is very unlikely to happen without him knowing) or someone who the wards accepted.

He pointedly looked at the night team lead, Auror Lopez, before looking toward his office.

“Boss.” Lopez stood straighter than before, looking between Percival and his office, realisation colouring his expression. “There’s a lady in your office, she sounds either really posh or a Brit…or both. Said she was a healer here about a case.”

As soon as the words ‘Brit’ and ‘Healer’ were said, Percival had a very good idea of who it was, the image of the woman in the corridor from the night before popping into his head.

“Did you want me to send her away?”

Percival looked back at Lopez from where he had been looking at his office door.

“No thanks. I know who she is.”

Lopez nodded and went back to packing up for the night while Percival walked purposefully to his office.

Opening his door, he was greeted to the sight of a woman sat in the chair opposite his own chair, her legs crossed and a notepad leaning gently against her knee as she wrote down notes in neat, elegant handwriting. She had her back to the door and he could see that the twist in her hair was now interrupted by a long shaft of dark red-brown wood, that was perfectly straight and rounded all the way down, with a point on one end and the other end was much thicker, with three bands of silver, intricately designed with leaves ingrained in the wood. He could also see a thin line of bright red running from tip to end, perfectly straight, as if cutting the wood in half. It took a moment for Percival to realise that this was her wand that she had haphazardly thrown into her hair, still _it’s much less dangerous than putting a wand in one’s mouth_ , he thought to himself.

He stepped forward and reached his hand out gently to pluck the wand out of her hair, when she moved, much faster than he could comprehend, even with his lightning quick reflexes.

Before he knew it, she had turned to face him in the chair, her dainty hand wrapped around his wrist, holding it away from her hair. Percival felt a drop of uncertainty and wariness fly through his blood, sending adrenaline around with it.

“I wouldn’t advise that,” she mumbled. Her eyes were blazing as they looked at him, her notepad and pen now floating in the air before her. Amazement must have coloured his face, because her expression became one that was much more relaxed, and he heard her chuckle slightly as she released his hand and folded both hands into her lap, while still turned to look up at him.

“Can I help you Director?” she asked smartly, as if he was impinging on her space, as a grin gracing her lips.

He checked himself very quickly, reforming his expression to something more neutral, instead of his apparent surprise from earlier.

“I do have one question.”

“Yes?”

“How did you know what I was about to do?”

“It’s normal for someone to try to remove my wand from my hair. Apparently, it doesn’t look very lady-like.” Percival had to disagree, it suited her very well, but he also saw it as quite dangerous, as anyone could possibly walk up behind her and pluck it from her hair before using it against her.

“If it’s not lady-like, then why don’t you wear it in a holster, or put it into your pocket?”

The look that Andromeda gave him seemed as if she was taking pity on him for leaving his brains in bed this morning and he wasn’t too sure why.

“First, most ladies’ clothes don’t come with pockets, they’re not too fashionable apparently. Second, I know where it is if it’s in my hair, as I do have a terrible habit of losing my wand. And last but not least, my wand does not like holsters.”

“But anyone can grab your wand when it’s in your hair,” he argued as he walked over to the hat stand and removed his coat.

She gave him a pointed look, her grin widening slightly, as if she had a secret that only she knew. “No, they can’t.”

“Why, because you’ll grab them like you did me?”

“Nope,” her smile widened further, like the Cheshire Cat of the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “My wand doesn’t like being handled by anyone other than me. It would greatly disapprove.”

Now he was just confused. First, she had said that her wand didn’t like being in a holster, that he had ignored, but disapproving anyone else of holding said wand was a little bit dramatic, surely.

“Excuse me? Your wand _doesn’t like_ being handled by anyone else? You make it sound as if it has feelings.”

Another look followed. This one was more humoured than the last pitiful look. “So, you’re telling me that your wand does every spell perfectly, whether you’ve dropped it, had someone else handle it, or there’s a change in the weather?”

_Okay, she has a point._ “No. I can’t say it works perfectly, especially if someone else has handled it.”

“Right?”

“It also doesn’t like it if it’s too warm,” he conceded, speaking lowly. “But this still doesn’t explain your comments about your wand,” he replies as he sits down behind his desk and waves a hand through the air to close the door with wandless magic.

Andromeda then looks at him, while she pulls her wand gently from her hair, a few strands pulling from their twist as she does so. He notes that it is a very long wand for a woman, let alone someone who is so small in stature, as usually, long wands required more power to yield them. The longer the wand, the more powerful it is.

She placed the wand atop his desk, the red-brown wood standing out even more against the dark surface of his desk. He noted that the wand did not have just one bisecting line from tip to end, but four, cutting the wand neatly into four sections. The silver bands glinted off of the light as she removed her hand.

“Hold your hand above it,” she prompts, before quickly adding, “but don’t touch it.”

_Is she really that protective of her wand?_ Percival understands that each person should be careful of their wand, but sometimes it needs to be handled by others. _Maybe this has something to do with the information gained last night in the corridor about her being abused by her mother_ , he thought to himself, suddenly more on edge about possibly scaring her or bringing up something that she doesn’t want to talk about.

He did as she instructed and held his hand about an inch above the wand on the desk. “Is something meant to happen?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He watched as she leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs again, the pad and pen still floating happily in the air. It was now that he recognised that they were being held up by wandless magic and she seemed to be exerting no effort to keep them in the air, making him even more cautious of the power that she holds. It takes a lot of energy and training, to do even the smallest amount of wandless magic-being proficient in it, he knows, especially as she didn’t seem to be focused on the floating items.

As he watched her, he felt his hand warm up considerably, a line of pain striking across the palm of his hand, causing him to pull it back, as if it had been burned. When he looked at his hand, he saw a red line crossing his hand, as if he had caught it on a hot wire. As he watched, the line began to disappear, leaving only a memory of the pain behind.

Looking down at the wand, he noted that the lines that had lit up a deep blood red while his hand was over it, now faded back to their dull, but still bright red lines.

It was in this moment that genuine fear raced through Percival’s system. Before him, was a chimera wand.

Chimera wands were and still are illegal in almost all countries, because they are associated with powerful dark magic, as they can only be bonded to a child that is born of a long line of dark magic. Once made and focused on one witch or wizard, the wand becomes severely protective, being almost completely unbreakable (being forged in chimera fire, rather than dragon’s fire makes the wand much more resilient than the average wand) and almost impossible to defeat, while the holder is still alive. Only when the holder is killed, does the wand become inert and begin to wear away, the magic holding it together becoming unstable as it does so.

This wand before him, is a threat to the entire country and the _only_ benefit of it, is that it is already bonded with her. He had never seen a chimera wand in person before, only hearing rumours that if they are bonded with a person, even if broken, the wand will piece itself back together to serve its master. The only way it could be destroyed otherwise, is within chimera or phoenix fire. All chimera wands in America (and most countries really) had been destroyed when it was realised that they could be used for such evil and be so difficult to defend against. Also, in order to make a chimera wand, the wandmaker had to have several permits that had to be regained frequently.

There was once a time when dark wizards and witches would pay senseless amounts of money to have a chimera wand, because they would be almost completely unstoppable, until they were all destroyed, except a few for rare and special cases, where a child could only use a chimera wand, as no other wand would work for them. Even then though, that person would have to go through regular testing and permits to keep their wands.

“I do hope you have permits for this thing.”

“Of course, Director.”

“How in Morgana’s name have you got a chimera wand?”

Andromeda shrugged her shoulders slightly as she picked up her wand and placed it back into her hair. _Well, at least if anyone did get it from her hair, no-one else could use it._ “No other wand worked for me,” she explained simply.

“What is it made from?”

“Canadian Redwood, 13 inches, unbending flexibility, with a core of unicorn and wampus hair.”

_Unicorn and wampus hair?_ Usually those two cores didn’t get along in the same wand, they could be quite destructive, afterall, unicorns are completely light and pure, having the ability to heal and calm, while wampuses, one of the deadliest magical creatures, could kill a grown man with a well-aimed roar and have 6 legs, each with claws that tear its prey apart. They are opposites and yet, she uses this wand each day to heal people.

Percival sits behind his desk, staring at the woman before him, completely in awe of her. She has been abused by her mother and now he finds out that she is the owner of a chimera wand.

“Doesn’t the owner of a chimera wand have to have dark magic in their blood?” Percival asked, the thought popping into his head and travelling out of his mouth, long before he can think that it might be inappropriate.

Andromeda nods her head morosely. “Yes. My family are renowned Slytherins all the way down the line,” she explains and to most people, this wouldn’t make sense, but he has been a pen-pal to Theseus Scamander since they were both 12 years old. He knows all of the Hogwarts houses and their characteristics and he knows for certain that Slytherin is the house most likely to create dark wizards and witches. He also knows that the second spot for creating dark wizards and witches is Gryffindor, followed by Ravenclaw and then Hufflepuff.

“Were you also a Slytherin?”

She shakes her head. “No. I am a Ravenclaw.” _Hmm, wisdom, intelligence, creativity and originality._ Now that she has said it, he can see all four of these characteristics in the healer.

Percival then watched as the notepad that had been floating in front of Andromeda, began its slow descent to sit in front of him, where the page turned to neatly written notes. He looked at them quickly, realising that they pertained to the children that they had been talking about the night before, their names having been replaced by initials throughout the notes, probably to save time.

Within mere minutes, both Percival and Andromeda left the conversation of wands and houses to one side and began to create a case to get the children from their abusive home and what assistance they might require. They both continue to talk back and forth about the matter for over 2 hours, before they begin to have a rough idea of their plan.

It isn’t much longer than that that Andromeda is leaving his office, her chimera wand still in her hair and her back ramrod straight, heels clicking as she walks out of the department.

 


	3. Picquery learns Andromeda's secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda isn't in this chapter, only mentioned. During their meeting, Percival tells Picquery of Andromeda's secret, after making sure that it'll be kept safe, bless him.
> 
> Enjoy.

Over the following weeks, Percival and Andromeda worked in conjunction, to make the lives of the children that they had been working with, better in the long run. They had been interviewing the children and gaining their views, alongside giving reassurance that they would do their best to protect the children.

Due to laws made for magical children, to secure their wellbeing, they had much more authority to move the children from their current housing to another member of family, than they would with any No-Maj children.

They had managed to relocate the children and Andromeda had kept him in the loop when she had followed up on their care. He had to admit that he was in awe of her, as she seemed to be able to keep tabs of all of the people under her care and make sure that they were all well-treated, while still doing her day job brilliantly at the same time. He gained the opportunity to watch her in action: strong when working in St Augustus Hospital and the healer area of MACUSA, sensitive when talking to the people in her care and humoured when talking to the aurors. He had to admit that she was excellent at her job.

For now, he was sat in Picquery’s office and he had just been told that Madame Penrose would be joining them on the raid that they had planned today, as Master Bandros was sick. They couldn’t just pick any healer to assist on raids, as they had to be trained in combat, field medicine and be well-versed in the rules, procedures and expectations of a healer in combat situations. He had to admit that when Seraphina had said that Andromeda was trained as a field healer, he relaxed slightly.

This was a massive raid that was going to break a long-standing smuggling ring that has been plaguing MACUSA for months now and the date had been planned for at least three weeks. He couldn’t have all of the plans that had been put in place, by himself and his aurors, put on hold for a healer being sick. It would have put them back by weeks or months and MACUSA couldn’t afford that, as it would mean that the criminals would be out there for long enough that another smuggling ring might pop up and then there would be double the work for the aurors.

Seraphina and Percival sat opposite one another, each with an equally strong cup of coffee and a range of different treats in front of them, while they catch up on the week and go over plans of attack for the rest of the day and the week.

It is a normal thing to see the President of the American Magical Society and the Director of Magical Security catching up on work matters, each comfortable and relaxed in her office, one on either side of the table, coffee in hand, as they pick from the hard-boiled sweets on the desk surface. Sometimes one of them might also bring cakes or pastries along for them to snack on, if the day has been particularly strenuous, slow or it’s a special occasion.

Since working together so closely, both people were so relaxed with one another that they skipped any formalities in these times together and they didn’t always need to talk about work. Seraphina knew about Theseus’s struggles and whatever he had written recently as well as Percival’s grandmother’s latest ideas of how she can keep herself entertained, usually including some kind of property damage that Percival has to sort out whenever he visits. Percival also knows about Seraphina’s wife’s job as a researcher for a small company, working to find anti-venoms to different No-Maj and magical creatures. Percival had also learned about their home routine and how each job gets in the way sometimes, leading them to have to make date nights to ensure that they organise time with one another. Truthfully, as much of a hard-ass as Percival might seem, he is a romantic at heart and he can see how cute Seraphina and her wife are together.

Conversation soon turned to the newest healer and what Percival had learned about her, including how strong she seems and how she is able to take command of the aurors and healers very well. However, as much information as he gave, he tried his very best to not say about how he had discovered about her past, deciding that this was a piece of information that should be kept a secret.

Seraphina let him have a few tidbits of her file though, including the fact that she had been part of the Ministry of Magic, until an incident occurred, and she put in her notice two weeks later before applying to St Mungo’s and then transferring over to St Jude’s to work alongside MACUSA.

“What was the incident?” Percival asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“I have no idea. It doesn’t say anything other than ‘an incident occurring between Andromeda Penrose, healer for the Ministry of Magic and Anastasia, Rudyard and Adamantius Penrose, family of Andromeda.’ Reports were apparently written and then it states that the incident is confidential,” Seraphina reads. She looks up at Percival. “They were her family, so surely it couldn’t have been that bad.”

Percival feels himself grimace.

“What?!”

“What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room,” Percival warned, looking round to check that the door is in fact closed, throwing a silencing charm at the doors for good measure, gaining him a glare from the President. He then proceeded to tell Seraphina about the night that he found Andromeda in the corridor, a mess due to the children being abused, trying to say as little as possible about the event. “She said that her mother abused her as a child, although she hasn’t brought it up since,” he explained, finishing off his story to Seraphina looking completely mortified.

“This incident was apparently in the middle of the Ministry of Magic. Her mother wouldn’t have hurt her there, surely?”

“I have no idea. I really hope not,” Percival stated morosely, feeling the conversation peter out on a negative note.

“She really doesn’t seem like she was abused though,” Seraphina claims, apparently thinking back to the last time that she had seen the healer.

“Look closely the next time. She has a scar across her neck from a curse that I couldn’t help noticing.”

Seraphina couldn’t help but gasp at the principle of the sweet and cheerful healer being harmed irrationally.

From there, conversation took a different turn, as the two people spoke about curses, jinxes and spells that they had seen a rise of recently and how they could support the aurors to be more prepared for what criminals might throw at them.

By the end of their meeting, both Seraphina and Percival had had enough of the talk of curses and could leave it be, instead pulling their minds back to their jobs and what needed to be done to accommodate for the raid later on this evening.


	4. Andromeda is good with magical creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we see that Andromeda manages to charm magical creatures into trusting her, obviously. Afterall, in case you haven't gathered, Andromeda is a sweetie.

That evening in question came around very quickly and by half past seven, the Department for Magical Law Enforcement was teeming with excitement, exhilaration, anticipation and adrenaline. There were three teams, each of 6 aurors, mixing junior and senior aurors.

It took less than five minutes for all of the teams to have apparated to the location for the raid, where they could hear a litany of different animal calls mixed with the laughter and loud speech from the smuggling ring members who were also in the old warehouse at the time.

With a well-trained gesture from Percival, the three teams all began to spread out: the first team, that Percival was leading, to enter in the front entrance and the second team to go to the back of the warehouse, while the third team spread around the perimeter to ensure that the area was secure once the raid was complete. Then the first two teams would collect evidence inside the warehouse and the third team would begin cataloguing evidence on the outside. The third team currently held seven members, consisting of 6 aurors and Healer Andromeda Penrose, who was necessary for field raids, but it was not safe to take her into the primary raid, as she is not an auror.

Before they had left MACUSA, Percival had checked on Andromeda to make sure that she understood what was expected of her, while making sure that she was going to be wearing the correct attire. He had been pleasantly surprised to find her in a black outfit, consisting of black pants and a blazer, sensible shoes and her hair pulled into a bun, apparently foregoing her normal style. Her wand was nowhere to be seen, as it wasn’t sticking out from her hair as it usually would be, much to his surprise. Percival had to admit to himself that it looked weird to see her without her wand in her hair now.

Before leaving, she then pulled on her black coat and a quick spell made the bright red belt change to black and the silver buttons dulled until they were a matt black. If he didn’t know otherwise, he might have mistaken her for an auror, but that was the whole point. If she looked like a healer, then she would be a target, as she would be identified as the weakest link of the team.

He watched as the third team silently stood, equidistant from each another creating a ring around the warehouse, making sure that they were not seen by anyone inside. Percival was a little surprised that Lopez had put Andromeda in the ranks, as if she is an auror, to hide her position as a healer. It’s a very smart move, he must admit and one that he would have used if she was a part of his team’s ranks.

He noted that she took up the same position as the aurors, making a formidable line around the area as their secondary defence.

He waited the customary 30 seconds to allow the second team to get into place, counting down in his head, before gesturing for his team to move forward.

The element of surprise and the division of the teams helped considerably to making the raid go much more smoothly than it could have done by just having one team in one entrance.

It didn’t take long before all of the smuggling ring in the warehouse were disarmed and restrained, ready for arrest and questioning. Once all three teams had given the all-clear, they began to process the evidence that was present, while members from each team began to process the members of the smuggling ring.

No more than a couple of minutes later and he was joined by Andromeda, as she began to do her rounds, ensuring that every member from each team was in good health. There were a few scrapes and bruises that were reminiscent of a raid and a duel that she treated quickly and efficiently, however, they had made a very lucky escape, and no-one was severely injured.

His attention was gathered quickly by a large screech from across the room, where an auror was approaching a creature, wand-in-hand. The creature was half eagle and half horse, that he recognised as a hippogriff. The hippogriff had cuts and scratches all over and a tight collar around its neck. Regardless of the discomfort that it must be in, it was rearing up and screeching in warning to the incoming auror, who was now stood in fear, looking up at the massive creature and the talons that were about to dig into his skin.

Before Percival could react, he saw a familiar wand point and retract harshly from his side, pulling the auror back by magic, sending him sprawling on the floor as the spell was grossly over-exaggerated with the adrenaline running through the caster’s system.

He looked over to see Andromeda stood, wand in her hand and eyes burning as she looked at the auror now laying on the floor, catching his breath. She then placed her wand into her pocket, straightened her back and was moving towards the downed auror with a great deal of purpose.

Percival watched, along with many other aurors in the vicinity, as she leaned down gracefully and pulled the man to his feet, checked him over and then gestured that he moves away from where she was stood, before turning towards the hippogriff, who was now pawing at the ground fretfully.

Percival’s wand was suddenly in his hand, ready to move her out of the way should it be needed. Instead, he watches as she takes another step toward the agitated creature, keeping eye contact and waiting until it looks at her before making a deep bow, all the while, keeping eye contact throughout.

Within mere seconds, the hippogriff bows to her and she steps forward, freeing it from the collar, before beginning to check it over and heal the injuries that she can, while speaking in low tones.

Percival then watches occasionally, as she moves around the room, gaining the attention of all of the creatures as she attends to them one-by-one, while he continues to process the evidence and oversee his aurors as they work.

By the time that all of the evidence is catalogued, Percival notes that there are very few animals left in the warehouse. His eyes seek out Andromeda, where she is working with a small group of diricrawl chicks. He then watches as she prompts them into what looks like a wooden crate or box.

“Madame Penrose,” he calls out once the creatures are inside the box, and grimace when he sees her startle and turn to face him with wild eyes, her irises looking as if they are burning and morphing. “What do you plan on doing with those creatures?”

She stands up and holds the box close to her chest, as if afraid that she is going to drop it. She then hands him a sheet of paper that she has plucked from the air, where a quill had been apparently writing on it and hands it to him.

“All of the creatures have been catalogued, including species, gender, approximate age and their injuries.”

Percival feels a _look_ coming across his face to say that she is avoiding answering him. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Andromeda visibly gulped before apparently steeling herself as she straightens her back and looks him in the eye. “I’m going to escort these creatures to MACUSA and from there, contact a Magizoologist that I know to collect them and escort them back to where they came from.”

“You do realise that we have laws that state that these creatures cannot be allowed in America, right?” he asks as his eyebrow raises and he folds his arms over his chest.

“I do indeed and if you don’t mind, _Director_ , it’s a stupid law. These creatures have done nothing wrong and it goes against everything about my constitution to allow you to kill them in cold blood. If you do that, then you are no better than the smugglers that you’re trying to stop,” she blurted, her accent much sharper as she spoke, apparently showing how irritated she truly is, all the while holding the box to her chest, as if she needs to shield it from him with her life.

“The law is there to protect the people of America.” Percival does his very best to keep the exasperation out of his voice, trying to sound as patient as possible.

“Have these creatures done anything to harm the people of America?”

“Not yet, but they might.”

She scoffed delicately, her eyes becoming hard and vaguely green around the irises. “The only beings who have broken the law are those smugglers.” As she spoke, her arm flew out to gesture towards the door. “You cannot harm these creatures because they were _born_ as that creature. It isn’t a nundu’s fault that they were born a nundu. Isn’t it your job to protect all magical kind, not just wizards and witches?” As she spoke, the fight seemed to begin to reduce from her voice and her eyes became completely chocolate brown once more, no longer filled with heat and danger.

“You sound as if you’re going to fight our laws,” Percival claims gently, uncrossing his arms and putting his hands into his pant pockets.

Her head shot up and her eyes were gleaming with something that Percival might define as mischief, a grin forming and a delicate eyebrow raising. “That’s a very good idea Director.”

Percival smiled. “Do you know how to put an idea forward to congress?”

A pause and her expression fell very slightly. “No. I know the principle, but I’ve never done it before.”

“I can help you if you want.”

Surprise coloured Andromeda’s expression, as if she was expecting him to fight her at every corner, rather than help her cause. Don’t get him wrong, he still believes that these creatures are dangerous beyond belief and that they shouldn’t be legal in America, but that doesn’t mean that every creature needs to be destroyed. As she had stated, it isn’t their fault that they were born in that form and also, it was MACUSA’s job to protect all magical kind and that includes the creatures too.

He smiled at her. “I’m not going to fight you Andromeda, but I don’t think that box will be too comfortable for those creatures for very long.” He stepped forward, testing the environment, while trying not to spook her. “You said that you would get in touch with a Magizoologist. How long do you think that it would take for them to arrive?”

She perused the question for a moment. “Well, I know three Magizoologists. One is currently in the Sudan and another in England. But I’m sure that the third that I know is currently working in South America. He could be here in no more than a couple of days.”

“Excellent. But what are you going to do in the meantime to look after them?” He asked the question as gently as possible, because he was expecting her to not know the answer. Instead, she stood tall and looked him straight on.

“I will look after them. Right now, they don’t need completely around the clock care, and I know what they all eat and ways to treat them.”

Surprise now coloured Percival’s’ expression. “How?”

Andromeda gave a large toothy grin and her eyes glimmered. “My cousin is a Magizoologist. He taught myself, his brother and my own brother to care for magical creatures…and muggle creatures actually. He’s a big softy for any creature.” She gave a small chuckle. “I drew the line at cuddling an acromantula.” She gave an overexaggerated shudder as she smiled at him.

Percival gave Andromeda a nod. “Very well, the creatures are hereby placed into your care. I trust that you’ll know what you’re doing. But I expect a regular update on their condition for as long as they are in your care,” he claimed before turning and leaving her with the box of creatures. For half a second, he also felt dread at the idea of leaving her with an array of potentially dangerous creatures who could kill her in a second. Then he remembered how she was with the hippogriff and he realises that she is probably the most qualified person in all of MACUSA to look after these creatures.

He then smiled at himself, with a fair amount of trepidation at the thought of the President’s reaction to his decision. He put it to the back of his mind, thinking only of the things that he needed to do to clear up the mess from the smuggling ring and facilitating the remaining aurors to do the jobs that needed to be done.

In the end, after weeks of back and forth and preparations, a new bill was passed regarding the care of magical creatures. It was determined that the creatures should be kept and cared for in the Control of Magical Beasts Department, where they would be kept in a secure environment or in stasis, working alongside the Magizoologist who had offered to assist with MACUSA. Also, the law that stated that dangerous creatures should be killed on sight was abolished, giving them a chance to prove themselves first.

Percival watched as Andromeda had gone toe-to-toe with congress, pushing for the bill and contesting any issues that they brought up. Due to this, Percival and Andromeda had had to agree to the training of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to enable them to give immediate care for magical creatures, including how to identify and approach them. Although it was a pain to ensure that everyone was trained, he was glad that that was the only compromise that they had to make for the bill to be passed.

Whilst observing her, Percival learned that Andromeda Penrose is patient beyond belief and she is able to exert passion and power without ever raising her voice, instead adding a massive amount of emotion to her voice, alongside unfaltering logic, while standing tall despite all of the criticism thrown towards her. Despite everything that he had learned about her, he has to admit that he was now even more in awe of her because of this.


	5. Percival becomes the patient

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is exactly what it says on the tin-Percival becomes Andromeda's patient and he sees her as a healer. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

The respect that he had developed when Andromeda was fighting against congress quickly disappeared when she was utilising that logic, patience and power towards him.

He had been called as back-up to an altercation that was taking place in Central Park. When he got there, he had been glad to find that No-Maj repelling wards had been placed around the area, leading them to not be drawn to the area, therefore keeping the Magical Statute intact.

He then entered the fight and was up against three strong wizards, holding his own until a powerful spell came from the side and weakened his shield enough that a rogue stunning spell had broken through, throwing him off his feet before he could strengthen his shield once more.

The next thing that Percival knew, he was waking up in St Augustus hospital in a side-room. The room was bright as natural light swam through the windows to the side of the room, accentuating how clinically white the room was.

Although his thoughts were muggy, he had tried to persuade the junior healer who came to assist him, that he was in fact fine, trying to wave off the healer from doing any diagnostic spells.

“I promise, I’m fine. I need to get back to work.”

“Director Graves, it’s policy that, first, diagnostic spells have to be done before any chance of discharge and second, I can’t discharge you, only a higher ranked healer has the authority to do that.”

“But I’m fine.” He took a calming breath as he heard the whining in his voice, like a petulant child, rather than the Director of Magical Security.

“Percival. What part of a concussion, erratic magical signatures and physical weakness do you consider to be fine?” a new voice rang out from the doorway.

He turned his head too fast, sending bolts of light flitting past his vision and a blast of pain racing through his skull. Long-standing practice was the only reason that he didn’t let the pain show on his face. Only when the flashed of light eased slightly did he see Andromeda stood just inside the room, her arms folded in front of her as she looked considerably unimpressed.

She was wearing a white blouse a black skirt that hugged her waist with a white belt, adorned with an intricately designed silver buckle. Her hair was in a plait this time that draped over her shoulder and her wand seemed to be clipped to her belt, using a ring that was slid onto the wand, like a holster without the bottom.

He wasn’t sure if he liked this, being too used to seeing her wand in her hair. Regardless of the surprising thought, he still tried to fight.

“I’m fine. I need to get back to work.”

“And I need to do my job too,” she countered as she stepped into the room. She shook her head and turned to the other healer in the room. “Thank you, Mister Cheswick.” Her colleague nodded his head and handed her a clipboard from somewhere before leaving the room.

Percival moved around to grab his wand from the side-table where it has always been kept whenever he is admitted into hospital and it very surprised to find that it isn’t there.

“Where is my wand?”

“Somewhere safe,” she replies, not bothering to look up from the clipboard that she’s flicking through.

“ _Somewhere safe?_ That’s a bit vague. Where is it? I need my wand,” he commands, sitting up fully in the bed, uncaring that the room is spinning around him. He needs to collect his wand.

“You don’t need your wand.” It is now that Andromeda looks up from her paperwork to give him a long-suffering look, but she doesn’t seem in a rush to stop him from sitting up. Because of this, Percival takes it as permission. She hasn’t said that he can’t sit up after all, so it’s not like she can tell him off for it. “Is there something wrong Director?”

The way that she tilts her head slightly irritates him a lot more than he had expected. He brings his magic to his hands to move her out of the way, to enable him to get out of the hospital that he currently feels trapped in and she is still surprisingly calm.

He supposes that her unfaltering calm should have set off warning signs in his mind, but he wasn’t listening to his auror instincts at the moment.

“You’re either going to hurt yourself or be sick,” she mentions softly, holding the clipboard to her side as she looks at him as if he’s short of a few brain cells. “Or both,” she adds as almost an afterthought.

“I. Am. Fine.” Percival enunciates each word as clearly as possible, to try to get the message across to the stubborn healer who is still stood there in front of him, calm as you like.

He pulled himself to the side of the bed, swinging over his legs, only then realising that he’s wearing a hideous hospital gown instead of his clothes.

“I need my wand and my clothes,” he commands.

It is now that Andromeda reacts. She reaches over, calmly places the clipboard on the side-table and fixes him a look while crossing her arms, her motions fluid and not rushed. “You cannot order me to do anything here Percival. The Law Enforcement Department is yours and this,” she gestures to the room around them, insinuating the area beyond, before both hands end up on her hips “is my jurisdiction.

“I will not be fetching your wand or your clothes for you. Actually, this is the very reason that they were removed from you. I will tell you once to lie back down, _Director_ , or I will have no choice but to restrain you to the bed for your own good. You are in no fit state to even be sitting up, let-alone standing.”

Percival scoffs as he continues to stand, despite there being an insistent ringing in his ears now and he can feel his breakfast trying to make a revisit. He swallows heavily to try to offset the nausea. If he’s sick now, then he’s just proving that she was right, and he doesn’t want to do that.

He stands up quickly and even he has to admit now that he had stood too quickly. Fire burned up his throat and he hadn’t even seen her move, but suddenly, Andromeda was stood in front of him, a bowl in her left hand and her wand in her right hand as she guided him back to the bed. She then placed the bowl under his chin as he lost the battle with keeping his breakfast down.

Once he was finished, she banished the bowl and grabbed a glass of water before prompting him to take sips. He followed her instruction, feeling suddenly exhausted, the fight leaving him.

She guided him to lie back down on the bed and soon he was fast falling asleep, only vaguely noting the colour of a diagnostic spell passing across his face as he fell into a deep slumber.

The next time that he awoke, he felt a bit better, but he still had a horrendous headache. This time there was no-one in the room, leaving him to be able to fight against the pain in peace. It was a dull, throbbing ache across his head that made his thoughts feel slightly like pudding.

He half-noted that the sun had set outside, being replaced by an inky dark sky and the lights on the ward had been dimmed slightly to accommodate for people sleeping.

Regardless of this, he began to sit up, much slower than before as he wondered whereabouts his wand and clothes might be on the ward so that he could facilitate an escape, so that he could suffer in the security of his own home instead of being gawped at by the medical staff here.

Percival can admit that he is not a good patient, but he has never done well with people pampering him or pitying him. He has also never been good with the idea of seeming weak, which could be why staying in the hospital ward was always so difficult for Percival.

While he is still struggling to get a grasp of his consciousness mingled with pain, he hazily notes that someone has just entered the room, the sound of shoes against the hard floors alerting him to their presence.

This time when he looks up, he notices that Andromeda has sat down on a chair beside him that he hadn’t seen before. She is still in the same clothes as earlier, but she looks slightly more dishevelled. Her plait is fraying slightly, and he is sure that he can see a couple of spots of blood on her pure white blouse. He also sees that she has dark circles under her bloodshot eyes and he can completely empathise with how tired she must be, having had many late nights of his own during his career as the Director and an auror before that.

She gives him a weary smile before covering up a yawn in her elbow and leaning back into the chair while crossing her legs demurely and smoothing down her skirt. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

“I don’t believe you Percival,” she responded quickly, her voice calm and composed. “Your head still hurting you?

“I have a bit of a headache, that’s all.” _Only true if ‘a bit’ means a hell of a lot,_ his mind supplied in a petulant hiss in the back of his mind.

She nodded slowly as if he had confirmed his suspicions. “I’m going to give you a choice now Percival. What you decide is completely up to you.” She paused for a moment, gaging his reaction, but for now he was sat staring at her, trying not to show the extent of his headache. “You can either take a potion, stay here the night and be discharged in the morning, headache all gone, or you can refuse the potion and stay here for the next two to four days, suffering with your headache. Your choice.”

Percival glared at her. “Is there a third option?”

“Nope, there isn’t one.”

“How about you discharge me now and we both get back on with work?”

Percival watched as Andromeda seemed to think about the option for a moment, making a contemplative sound as she did, while leaning back in her chair. “Hmm. How about no, Percival? I gave you my options, now please choose.” She quickly held up her hand to silence him from what he was about to say. “Do realise that whatever you choose, there will be a ward on the door that will not allow you to leave this room, so you can’t just go home after I’ve left.” His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks. _Is she a legillimens?_ “And no, I can’t read your mind, but I was pre-warned about your…habits.”

She gave him a small smile before covering up another yawn.

“Will you be getting some rest?”

Sharp eyes focus on Percival. “I will. The sooner that you make a decision, the sooner that I am going home, having dinner and getting into bed.”

“When was the last day that you took to yourself?”

“I could ask you the same question Director,” she answered quickly. “You’re digressing, but if you must know, it was four days ago. What option have you chosen?”

“How long was the break for?” She is right. He is totally digressing from the topic, just to try to lose her focus on him, so that he has more of a chance of pushing his third option of going home while she is tired. Percival understands that he is completely trying to take advantage of her tired state but needs must.

“Two days. What is your option?”

Percival gives a huff. “And if I say that I’m not deciding?”

“Then I will assume that you have chosen the second option and I will leave the room and strengthen the wards to keep you in.”

_Strengthen the wards._ Surely that insinuates that there are already wards on the door. Of course, there are, the sneaky bugger that she is.

Another huff brings the pain in his head to the forefront of his attention again and he gives in. “Give me the bloody potion,” he claims as he holds out his hand.

He genuinely expects that she will have to leave the room and fetch the potion, giving him enough time to try to get out, but instead, his plan backfires as he watches her reach into a pocket in her skirt and pull out a phial and a glass. She then hands him the phial and grabs her wand before filling the glass with clean, clear water and then hands that over too.

The phial has a forest green colour viscous liquid (if you can call it that) inside and the other seems to contain plain water. _Great._ Surely that means that the potion tastes disgusting, like so many other potions that he’s ever taken. With a quick wave of her wand, the stopper in the phial pops off, leaving him to drink it down.

Sensing that he has lost, but chosen the best of the worst situations, he grabs the potion and downs it, the taste of the bitter liquid on his tongue, making him scrunch up his face in disgust at the feeling of the slimy texture coating his mouth. He quickly thrust the phial back at her and downed the water quickly.

Within seconds, the headache was beginning to abate, and he was falling asleep once more, dropping back onto the mattress.

He could have sworn that he heard Andromeda say goodnight to him, but he was back into his dreamland before he could reply.

When he woke up in the morning, his headache was non-existent, and his clothes were neatly folded on the chair with his wand resting gently on the top of them. Soon after he had gotten changed, he was being discharged by Andromeda, who he had to admit, looked much more awake, aware and well-rested now.

It was now that Percival noted that Andromeda was much more strong-willed than he had first assumed, especially in her own territory and he was not best pleased with the idea of fighting against her again.


	6. Andromeda gets suspicious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of a few chapters that are being created. This is in Andromeda's POV rather than Percival's.
> 
> This was prompted by ShadowWolfsDen's comment, so thank you very much for that :D
> 
> Hopefully this and the next few chapters will be to your tastes.

When Andromeda entered the aurors office that morning, something completely indiscernible made her feel uncomfortable, her instincts screaming at her and her skin crawling, although she couldn’t determine why. Looking around the room, she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. All of the aurors were in various degrees of working, some concentrating and some not, but that wasn’t that surprising. She tried to force the thought into the back of her mind, instead trying to focus on the task at hand, although it wasn’t working particularly well.

Andromeda was the healer working alongside another raid and so she had prepared accordingly, wearing appropriate clothing and ensuring that she was wearing her holster, despite her wand not particularly liking it and always being a little fussy after being in the holster for any period of time.

Every raid makes her a little apprehensive, because the situation that they’re stepping into isn’t always predictable, therefore it’s never known whether her expertise will be required or not, although she truly hopes it isn’t needed, because she hates the idea of anyone getting hurt.

Andromeda’s parentage and family have taught her a lot of what can be expected from both sides in a situation such as a raid, especially as her uncle and cousin are aurors in England and her mother and father are (embarrassingly) very high-ranked Grindelwald followers, to the point that she had met the dark mage when she was younger. Andromeda had found him to be a smooth talker, but the magic that oozed off of him had made her want to heave, just because it didn’t feel _right_. Even to this day, the thought made her feel uncomfortable.

It also showed of the kind of man that he was that he had come to Penrose Manor while she had been at Hogwarts, found her with magic-supressing cuffs around her wrists making her sick and blunted and he had never batted an eyelid towards her, treating her as if she was invisible. It terrified her that he was so blasé about a child being chained and she felt even more helpless than she had done before. There was a very good reason as to why she left England and her mother was a very big part of that.

She hated her past and remembering it made her feel slimy and chilled. A slight shiver later and she put the thought to the back of her mind, alongside her negative feelings, thinking only of the present and the future, including what the raid might include.

“Ready Andromeda?” a female voice asked, pulling her out of her reverie. Andromeda looked up from where she had been staring to find Auror Porpetina ‘Tina’ Goldstein in front of her. Tina was wearing the sensible clothes expected of an auror, a dark trouser suit with her hair cut short, so it was out of the way. While it was neat and tidy now, Andromeda expected that it might look a little wilder later.

Andromeda smiled genially, “as ready as I can ever be. What about you?”

Tina smiled widely. “I love the adrenaline of prepping for a raid.” Her dark eyes glistened with excitement as she spoke, gesturing a little too wildly. It was something that reminded her of her cousin, Theseus.

Andromeda had remembered Theseus saying something similar, explaining that he loves the entire plan coming together and seeing months or even years of work leading to the people involved being brought to justice. He also remembered her uncle and cousin try to sway her to working as an auror, as she had the grades to allow her into the programme, but she had had her sights set on being a healer, even before she had begun her studying at Hogwarts.

Personally, she saw much more allure with healing than bringing justice.

Just as Tina had opened her mouth to apparently continued, the Director entered the room from his office, his presence enough to take over the room, as per normal. She had always tried her best to ensure that she never visibly back down in front of authority figures, as she felt that it would undermine her own personal authority, like her family had done when she was a child.

Trying to keep on track and not to get bogged down by her sordid past, Andromeda listened to what Percival was saying, taking in her role of the raid (stay out of the way unless needed and act like an auror-she could do that) and what was expected of everyone else alongside the goals of the raid. All of the brief sounded like what she had heard from Percival before, he acted the same as normal, if a little jittery, but that could be explained by the difficult expectations of everyone in the auror department.

However, Andromeda didn’t feel right. She ran though the common symptoms of both muggle and magical maladies, considering the possibility of him being sick, but nothing jumped out at her. Something about her instincts that weren’t sitting right.

Only when Andromeda grabbed her wand to spell her coat into something more conventional, rather than the bright British fashion that she favoured, did she realise how cold her hands were felling. Maybe it was her who was sick then, instead of Percival.

Andromeda had just replaced her wand as Percival passed her, not even acknowledging her as he normally would. _It’s probably just the stress_ , she told herself. Although, something in Andromeda’s mind didn’t still feel right. The breeze that passed her in Percival’s wake caught her attention.

Being an animagus, some of the traits seeped into her human senses making them much sharper than normal. One of these is her sense of smell and right now, something was wrong with Percival’s scent, _that sounded weird, even in her head._ His normal smell was like a fresh spring morning, mixed with a musky, woody smell. Now, despite it being musky and woody, it also smelled damp and earthy, like he had been in a damp room for too long.

On some other people, that might be normal, but she had never smelled it on him and right now, it set her on edge, like a cat arching its back in fear of something dangerous and she felt the indescribable urge to hiss at him as he passed.

It was almost three hour later when the aurors had completed the raid and all of the perpetrators were restrained that Andromeda felt wrong again, having turned her attention to the raid at the time.

She turned to Tina, who looked rather pleased with herself as she gathered evidence against the gang who had been dealing in illegal potion materials, including items of magical creatures including unicorn horns and nundu poison sacks. Andromeda shuddered at the thought of how her younger cousin would respond to knowing that magical creatures had been injured, he has such a kind soul, especially for defenceless creatures.

“Tina,” she spoke quietly, trying to catch the aurors attention without being too conspicuous. “Do you know if there have been any changes recently with Director Graves?”

“Is there a problem?” Tina asked, voice curious, suspicious and attentive simultaneously. Andromeda was impressed that the auror could convey so much in just a few words.

“I don’t know, I just feel that somethings wrong and was wondering if you’ve noticed anything. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?” It was probably best to try to downplay the problem, as right now, she couldn’t be sure if there was anything wrong.

“He seemed a little on edge earlier, but it’s probably just stress.”

Andromeda nodded. “Probably. Maybe I’ll have to have a chat with him about the issues with prolonged stress,” she replied, trying to keep her voice light-hearted. Slightly distracted, she picked up a shielded unicorn horn and inspected the markings.

“Sounds like a good idea. Although fair warning, he’s a stubborn soul,” Tina offered as she began to shield another item from the box in front of her, adding it to the growing pile of evidence.

“Trust me I know.” She inspected the horn in front of her, something remotely familiar about it. “This horns markings look very similar to a breed that lives in the Black Forest in Germany, the Lafordian Aurum.”

“How do you know that?” Percival asked, seemingly coming from nowhere and making her jump a little.

Now Andromeda was even more on edge than before. “My cousin is a magizoologist. I’ve learned a few things from him.”

“Would I know your cousin?” he asked, seemingly cordially, but Andromeda didn’t trust the question as he had never asked a question like that, even though she had mentioned her cousin’s affinity for magical creatures before this point when they’ve been evidencing after raids.

“I highly doubt it,” she replied, trying not to sound too terse.

“Is there a problem Penrose?”

Her instincts were no longer warring, they were all screaming that something was wrong. Normally, he never asked too many personal questions and he _always_ either called her Andromeda or _Miss_ Penrose. He never called her just Penrose.

She looked a little closer now. He looked relaxed with his hands in his pockets, as if this was a perfectly normal scenario, but his face looked as if he was forcing himself to look relaxed and this caught her by surprise. _Maybe he was stressed, but that wouldn’t explain some of his behaviours._

“No-no. There’s no problem,” she replied cautiously, placing the unicorn horn in the pile of evidence.

“Good. Please notify me if there is any problem. Goldstein, Penrose,” he stated firmly before wandering off.

“Maybe he’s just having an off-day,” Tina supplied lightly after Percival had left.

Andromeda hummed in reply, her mind whirring. “Perhaps. I need to check on the other aurors,” she mumbled noncommittally, not really concentrating on anything anymore.

She moved over to the edge of the room and something made her turn, although she is unable to say what. Within seconds, she saw the problem - a perpetrator struggling in their binds. Andromeda observed him to be twisting his arms in an uncomfortable way and if he struggled any more, he was going to injure himself and her healer training wouldn’t allow that, no matter what he might have done in order to get him there.

Andromeda begins to move across the room towards the group. When she gets a few steps away from them, several things happen at once.

First, she saw the binds fail, despite being held together by magic, leading her to yell out instinctively. Then she saw him move towards her, pulling a wand towards him with a blast of wandless magic just as she recognised the shadow of the Imperius curse in his eyes. As Andromeda reached for her wand, the spell was fired. The protection shield that she threw up wasn’t strong enough to stop the spell and she immediately felt adrenaline, fear, horror and acceptance that she had nowhere else to go.

The spell burned her, and she distinctly recognised that she was screaming, but she couldn’t stop it. Her blood was fire and her skin felt as if it was contracting, too small for her body and shrinking at an exponential rate.

Somewhere in her brain, she realised that she was being forced into her animagus form of a house cat with no control, no choice and no way to prevent it.

When her brain came back to the present situation, she noted that she was laying on the floor, much smaller, much less human but much more afraid than before, especially as her senses were running wild-too many sounds and smells surrounding her and making her mind buzz uncomfortably.

“-meda?” someone was talking to her. She opened her eyes to find the dulled image of Tina in front of her, looking worried.

Andromeda stood up, her paws shaky on the cold floor and her pads felt sensitive on the concrete and her fur felt like it was bristling. The room was spinning around her as she gained her balance and looked up, feeling much smaller than normal.

Giving herself a shake, she tried to run through the motions of becoming human again, including the feel of her human body, how she normally senses things, the feel of her wand in her fingers or twisted into her hair, the feel of her fingers as they work to both brew and administer potions and the feel of a warmed teacup in her knowledgeable hands. She pulled on her magic to change her form, but nothing happened, as if the magic was just outside of her reach, trapped where her fingers could brush against the slow swirl of power, like gold dust staining her fingers, but having no purchase.

Frustration and fear ran through her body, each as powerful as the other, warring for attention and dominance.

Suddenly, all around her, there was sound, seemingly bursting from every corner of the room. Surrounding her were shoes and for one of the first times since being an animagus, she was genuinely terrified about being trodden on.

Andromeda had begun to make herself a smaller target, relying on instincts that were not entirely human, to try to prevent being stepped on and hurt. Without warning, she felt her body leave the floor. Apparently, someone had picked her up. Someone who smelled of biscuits, coffee and something mustardy alongside a hint of flowery perfume and fresh bread. It took her a moment to recognise the person as Tina, as the adrenaline muddled her brain.

“Sorry Andromeda,” she mumbled, trying to hold her in a way that was comfortable for both of them. Andromeda pulled up her back legs from where they had been dangling and wound her tail over Tina’s arm, giving her more stability and ensuring that Tina wouldn’t feel as if she would drop her at any moment. If she were a lesser woman, she might have cringed at the thought of being picked up by anyone, but at that moment, Andromeda couldn’t really bring herself to care.

From her perch, Andromeda then watched the proceedings as the other aurors disarmed and incapacitated the escapee, someone throwing a full body-bind to negate the possible affects from the Imperius curse.

Now that Andromeda could think, her mind was racing and asking questions that irritated her as she was unable to voice them. Who had cast the curse on the perpetrator? How had they escaped the bonds? Where had they gathered the wand from? How did the aurors not notice that this was occurring? Why was the group not being guarded? Why did the person send an animagus trap curse at her, when they could have just as easily sent a killing curse and she would have been just as defenceless?

In the midst of her questions, she saw a figure approaching. “Goldstein, what in Morgana’s name happened here?” Percival’s terse, stressed voice cut through all of the hubbub around them. Tina’s arms tightened around Andromeda, causing her to have to move slightly to stay balanced, but thankfully Andromeda didn’t get too squished by Tina’s hold.

“Boss, one of the perps got out of his bonds.”

“I can see that,” he replied, gripping the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache brewing. This was not unusual for Percival, since knowing him, Andromeda had treated him for at least six migraines, none of which he had immediately alerted her to, instead requiring her to work it out herself, the stubborn mule of a man.

As a cat, Andromeda could smell this man much more clearly now and she easily determined that this was NOT Percival Graves. She recognised the smell from England, but she couldn’t quite place where, her mind bringing up images of Hogwarts, Penrose Manor, the Scamander home and the Ministry of Magic. Of course, that wasn’t at all useful as these images told the entire story of her childhood, only a few areas missing, such as the curious little village of Hogsmeade and St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Her scattered thoughts weren’t helping her right now.

No, this man smelled wrong, like mud and dirt, long ground in and damp, wet rooms, musky and horrible, like long-set mould, alongside the woody smell that Andromeda had begun to associate with Percival’s office.

“Where is Healer Penrose?” _Healer Penrose?_ _That’s wrong_ , her brain supplied unhelpfully, a small growl gracing her lips.

Tina moved her arms up slightly to evidence the cat in her arms. “This is her, Boss.”

“Animal mimicking or forced animagus?” he asked. She had obviously heard of the second option, but she had also heard of the first once before, in her training. Someone had been spelled to take on the form of an animal without being an animagus prior and this had led to the poor person’s mind to be torn during the change, allowing them to speak in their native language, but not be able to understand a lick of any human spoken words. The person had also apparently changed wrong, therefore leading to organs being placed in the incorrect areas of their body and their death had come about only two days later. She still remembered the grimacing look on the healer’s face as they described the situation to the group and the slightly sickened looks of the trainee-healers.

If memory served her correctly, the same spell caused both of these reactions, depending on if the person is an animagus or not. It’s a difficult spell to master and it’s extremely dangerous for someone to cast as it tends to backlash and spell the caster too.

“From what I saw, it looked more like an animagus change,” Tina replied meekly. Andromeda nodded her head to show that she believed that Tina’s assumption was correct.

“Get her back to MACUSA, see if you can reverse it,” he ordered before turning away to oversee the rest of the operation.

 _Surely Percival-the real Percival-would have asked her if she was alright at least._ All this was doing was cementing the information that he was not the real Percival Graves, but right now, stuck as a cat with no ability to communicate in more than purrs, growls and mewls, she couldn’t convey her findings…or could she. Percival said to go back to MACUSA, didn’t he? Plans began to whir in her head as Tina walked, although she soon had to concentrate as the motion of someone carrying her made her vaguely nauseous.

“I’m going to disapparate and side-along you, will that be okay?” Andromeda nodded and a small mewl came out of her mouth long before she remembered that she couldn’t speak English any more.

Tina jostled her as she grabbed for her wand and pointed it into the air before the world around them shimmered and swirled then forming into an alleyway near to MACUSA. Andromeda’s nausea wasn’t helped by this and as soon as the world had righted itself, she jumped lithely from Tina’s arms to stand by her feet.

“You okay?”

She gave a fully body shake before nodding at the auror and beginning to walk out of the alleyway towards MACUSA, thankfully knowing the route by heart already. Only a second later, footsteps hurried after her and soon, Tina and Andromeda were walking alongside one another as if it was completely normal. They gained a few odd looks from the muggles walking past them, but thankfully, they were soon entering the MACUSA building, out of sight from the muggles, only gaining a raised eyebrow from the door-guard and Red being completely unfazed as he operated the lift down to the auror department. Red had probably seen much weirder in his time working in MACUSA.

Exiting the lift, it was easy to see that there weren’t many people in the department and when she looked up at her, she noted that Tina looked a little uncomfortable.

“I don’t suppose you know how to reverse this do you?”

Andromeda shook her head, before beginning to walk away from Tina. She turned, partway to her destination, to see if the auror was following, giving a small mewl to prompt her to move. Unfortunately, what Andromeda had planned, she needed hands for.

Thankfully, Tina caught on and moved forward, to which Andromeda began walking once more until they got to the cloakroom, where they kept their bags. A quick climb up the door frame with her back paws on the floor and her forepaws stretched in front of her, allowed her to convey her message to Tina.

After Tina had unlocked the door with her wand, they both entered, Andromeda silently jumping onto a bench at the side of the room and walking its length until she came to a very familiar bag. She mewled once more and brushed against the side of her medical bag, again indicating to Tina what she wanted.

Tina sat down on the bench next to her. “Do you want something in there?”

Andromeda nodded very openly and gave a purring mewl as a reward for Tina being quick to catch on to what she was indicating. The auror reached over and her hand hovered over the top of the bag, not touching. “Are there any charms on this that I should know about?”

 _Well done._ Andromeda _had_ put charms on the bag so that it couldn’t be opened by a stranger, but they only kicked in when she was more than 10 feet away from it, in either her cat or human form (thankfully).

Andromeda shook her head and soon the bag was being opened. Inside, the bag had been charmed to be bigger on the inside, enough for shelving units and drawers that could be pulled from the bag if she needed to restock. However, thankfully, what she needed was close to the top.

Andromeda stood on her back paws and placed her fluffy little black and white fore paws on the edge of the leather bag. Once she was steady, she then reached in, tapping the top of her notepad that sat on the inside pocket at the top of the bag. Andromeda thanked her lucky stars that she had forgotten to transfer the notepad to her coat before the raid, instead getting distracted by Not-Percival, as otherwise it would have been transformed along with her coat into her animagus form.

Tina reached in and grasped the notepad, holding it in her hands. “I understand this is an odd situation, but why would you want a notepad?”

Andromeda would have chuckled if she was human, but as a cat, she purred instead, allowing the familiar motions calm her. Andromeda twisted round to put all four paws on the bench and walked towards the woman next to her before nudging the notepad cover with her nose, trying to prompt Tina to open the cover.

Andromeda was praising Tina for not being a complete idiot like some aurors she had met in the past, as she opened the front cover of the notepad, revealing a completely blank page on the right and four badges on the left. If anyone understood Hogwarts, they would understand that there is one badge for each Hogwarts house, each adorned with the house colours and their representative animal.

With a flick of her tail, she reached her paw up and gently tapped the badge that sat at the top on the left-hand side. This badge was blue and silver with an eagle with its wings raised behind it and represented Ravenclaw-her house.

Within seconds, the edges of the badge glowed blue and the eagle’s wings began to flap on the badge, slowly moving up and down as a sign that it was her who had called for help.

This notepad system had been created when Theseus had realised that both his little brother and one of his cousins were planning on leaving the country. If the person was in trouble, they would open their notepad and tap their respective house badge to indicate this and the others would all write on the spelled paper next to it to see if they could help.

However, because it was Theseus, he didn’t particularly like the prospect of using first names, as first it might be incriminating (although she could never see it herself) and he had a natural affinity for nicknames. Therefore, each person had a different name. Hers is Bella, as her full name (much to her dismay) is Andromeda Belladonna Felicity Penrose (and yes, she understands that her second name is that of a poisonous flower).

Her twin brother being Adamantius Narasin (another poison) Edmund Penrose was listed in the book as Narasin. Her cousins were listed in the book as Apollo and Artemis for their second names, so that everyone was equal, despite the fact that neither cousin liked their middle names-Theseus included.

It took only a moment for the page on the right to begin to glow as a message came through. _Apollo: Are you hurt Bella?_

“Bella?” Andromeda nodded, trying to keep eye contact before signalling down to the page to indicate that she needed to write. “Who’s Bella? Are you Bella?”

Andromeda nodded, thinking about the need to kill Theseus when she next saw him for making her life constantly difficult, before putting her mind back to the task at hand. She reached a paw to tap on the blank page, making the motion as deliberate as possible.

Tina looked down to the page to see the action but looked slightly confused.

 _Narasin: What happened?_ appeared on the page next.

Andromeda rolled her eyes as best she could as a cat and moved back over to her bag. With a little bit of struggle and a great amount of effort to not fall into the shelving units, Andromeda snagged a pen in her teeth and took it back over to Tina, dropping it down on the page.

“You want me to write?” Andromeda nodded again, allowing a pleased purr to escape her throat. “Okay.” Tina grabbed the pen and turned the notebook around so that she could write the correct way around. “Should I do it from me or you?”

Andromeda tapped her paw on the notebook once. Her family would notice that it wasn’t her handwriting, but in 3rd person, they’re more likely to panic as it could sound like a kidnapper, especially to poor Theseus. “From you?” Andromeda shook her head. “From me?” Tina gained a nod before she grabbed the pen and uncapped it, holding it above the paper for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts.

Tina sat down on the bench next to Andromeda and balanced the book on her knee.

In messy handwriting, a message began: _My name is TainGldtienos._ Tina stopped writing as she contemplated her name. It had all the right letters, but they weren’t in the right order. She was sure she’d spelt it right. “Is that normal?” Andromeda nodded. The notebook didn’t allow for full names as a protection factor, love from overprotective Theseus. “Should I continue?” Andromeda nodded again, hoping that Tina wouldn’t try to write her name again, as it still wouldn’t work. _I am an auror with M---_ A scribble adorned the page where the word MACUSA would have been.

“It won’t allow workplaces either?” Andromeda would have smiled if she could, but instead she shook her head gently, pleased that Tina was catching on quickly. _Admdaorne_ Tina rolled her eyes but continued _was hit by a spell that transformed her into her animagus form. She is unharmed._ Tina paused and looked up. “You are unharmed, aren’t you?” fear dripping into her voice as if she was scared that she hadn’t noticed. Andromeda nodded once more. “Should I say that there might be a security-“

Tina was unable to finish her question as the door to the cloakroom opened and a woman wearing a pastel pink dress with her hair neatly styled, entered the room.

“I thought I could hear you Teenie. Why are you back so early?”

“Queenie,” Tina greeted quickly. “Meet Andromeda Penrose, she’s our healer,” she states as she gestures toward Andromeda in her feline form next to her. “Andromeda, meet Queenie, my sister.”

As Queenie entered the room, she could smell the floral perfume that she had noted on Tina earlier alongside the smell of fresh bread and baking permeating the room from the woman in front of her.

Andromeda dipped her head in greeting, but suddenly raised it quickly to look at Queenie with a suspicious look. As a healer and a Penrose, Andromeda had impeccable occlumency shields, whether in feline or human form and she was able to hold said shields without even thinking about them. However, she had felt a poke against her shields, trying to get in without being openly intrusive. _A legillimens then,_ Andromeda deduced and from the way that Queenie didn’t seem to be completely aware of what she was doing, Andromeda assumed that she had been born with the ability, growing to full use during puberty.

“There’s a security risk?” Queenie asked. Instinctively, Andromeda hissed at the words spoken.

“Maybe,” Tina replied. She turned to Andromeda apparently remembering her earlier question. “Should I write about the security risk?”

Andromeda debated in her mind. It wasn’t a yes or no question. It was that there was a _possible_ risk, but nothing definitive. Without her permission, the thought must have escaped her shields, either that or she had unintentionally broadcast the thought.

“Yes Teenie,” Queenie supplied, eyes wistful, hiding a wealth of knowledge. “But only write that there’s a potential security risk, it’s not definitive.”

Tina seemed unfazed by her sister’s abilities, not even questioning how she knew what was going on. “But I can’t write the location,” she apparently remembered. Pen still hovering over the page.

“They’ll know where you’re on about. Just say… the ‘Eagle Aurors’ have had a potential security risk,” Queenie claimed, stating the words that Andromeda had forcefully shoved in her direction through a tiny gap in her shields before shutting them up once more. Tina wrote the words that Queenie spoke without hesitation or question and Andromeda marvelled at the trust between the sisters. She had only had a connection like that with her brother before they both went to Hogwarts, after that, they split a little, especially as she was a Ravenclaw and he was a Slytherin. It didn’t matter to the other students that they were twins then.

The page glowed once more. _Apollo: Artemis, would you be able to check? You’d be less noticeable than me or Narasin. I’ll check up if you need it._

An answer replied instantly.

 _Artemis: That’s only because you’re too loud Apollo._ _See you soon Bella._

Apparently, Artemis would be coming to help her out. This was about to get interesting for everyone involved.


	7. Andromeda makes a discovery (Andromeda's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is all about Andromeda's struggles and life as a cat, forced to be in her animagus form.   
> Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, I've been trying to organise my life and make sure that this story still flows. I hope you all enjoy :)

Over the following days, lots happened in quick succession. She became a house-pet to the Goldstein sisters, after Queenie won a very fair argument in saying that she was unable to cook or even enter her own apartment at the moment and she was not able to work either. However, as much as she was dismayed that she was not able to be human, she had to admit that Queenie and Tina never once treated her like a beast, talking to her as you would a human. Queenie also cooked marvellously, giving her cat sized portions of human food on a small plate-after checking that nothing would harm her in a cat form, bless her heart.

Also, it turned out that Queenie’s legillimency came in handy to communicate, instead of Andromeda trying to speak with shakes, nods, purrs and growls. Thankfully, Andromeda was still able to keep up her occlumency shields, even when asleep, otherwise, she would have been afraid of scarring Queenie for life with the memories that she holds in her mind. Some of those memories scarred her and she couldn’t bare the idea of damaging someone in the same way.

Queenie also, thankfully, never asked her about her occlumency shields and never seemed bothered that her shields were in place almost constantly, only allowing through thoughts that she consciously projected.

Andromeda unfortunately couldn’t work as a healer in her animagus form, much to her dismay she had also been notified by MACUSA that she was not to return to work and even as a cat, she would be sent home before she could even try to work. She had tried to reason with Tina (through Queenie) that she could go to observe, but Tina had rightfully notified her that she could lose her job if she took Andromeda with her willingly. Andromeda had conceded to her point and had stayed in the girls’ apartment, not willing to get Tina in trouble.

Of the two days that she had been staying at the flat, she had been alone, whereby she was able to explore the flat (without prying) and the world just around the flat, thanks to Queenie leaving a window open just enough for her to get out and in. it had been fascinating to take in the different smells and environment. However, as fascinating as it had been, it had also been scary. Andromeda used her abilities as an animagus to comfort people and to enable her to judge the health of the people around her with better, more tuned senses. She never chose to be an animagus to explore, so this was a whole new experience for her. She had initially wanted to explore to see if she could gain any more information about Not-Graves, but unfortunately with so much space and so many people, it was nearly impossible to track anything in the dense urban forest of New York.

On this particular day, Andromeda’s third day co-habiting with the Goldstein sisters, she had been watching Queenie, who had the day off. She had had dinner preparing itself with magic while she was sewing and Andromeda was observing her skilled needlework, remembering the time that she had been required to use surgical thread with a patient as the spell that they had been hit with prevented them from healing with magic. Truth be told, she was really gaining an animosity towards people who created spells that affected other people’s magic, as they seemed to be making her life difficult at the moment.

The door shut forcefully, and Tina stomped in, much earlier than normal, immediately faceplanting onto the settee in the lounge area, mumbling to herself angrily as she did.

“Teenie, are you okay?” Queenie asked as both Queenie and Andromeda moved closer.

A mumble was the reply, but Queenie apparently was still able to read her mind. “What?!” It was the most outraged she had ever heard the gentle witch and if her instincts were not so well-controlled, he might have jumped high enough to end up sat next to Tina on the settee. Instead, she opted to sit on her haunches and look up with her head cocked to the side as she projected the thoughts of _what’s wrong_ towards the blonde witch.

“What happened?” Queenie asked, not acknowledging her thought question just yet, but Andromeda didn’t mind, being patient is a job requirement for a healer. A frustrated yell into the pillow made Andromeda cringe. “Oh dear.” Queenie’s voice was almost timid. _Merlin._ Andromeda almost didn’t want to know what was going on. “Come here.” Queenie stepped over to the settee, nudging her sister to raise her head so that she could sit beneath with Tina draped across her lap.

Right now, as a cat, Andromeda was slightly at a loss as to what to do. She didn’t feel like she was familiar enough with either of them to give them physical comfort, but standing staring felt a little rude.

Instead, she chose to step forward on silent paws and lay with her side to the settee, a low purr emanating from her throat, permeating the thick silence.

It was only after Queenie had managed to convince Tina to get off of the settee to get changed into something more comfortable than her work clothes that Queenie divulged what happened in a quiet voice as she ran her fingers through Andromeda’s soft fur, as she looked up at the door that Tina had just left the room through. “Teenie lost her job for helpin’ out a no-maj. The family had to be obliviated and they said she was reckless and not fit to be an auror.” A deep breath followed; her fingers still moved instinctively. “As of tomorrow, she’s workin’ in wand permits.”

Andromeda had heard about the wand permits department. It was stuffy, cold and cramped. It was not the place for any person, let alone someone who was fully qualified to be an auror.

She couldn’t help but think that she had something to do with it, afterall, she had asked Tina to keep an eye on the department.

Something must have leaked from her mind-either that or the contact made her mind easier to read. “Oh, it wasn’t your fault honey. Teenie had been feelin’ wrong about the department for a week before you said anything.” At that moment, Tina re-entered the room, seemingly not hearing the conversation that had occurred beforehand. She gave a pitiful smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course you’re still welcome here,” Queenie reassured kindly.

Andromeda’s head shot up, to look startled at Queenie, who was looking down with sympathy drawn all over her face. She certainly hadn’t meant to think that thought, let alone to project it to the blonde woman sat beside her.

“Queenie’s right. You’re still welcome here Andromeda.” The smile that graced Tina’s face this time was more genuine, determined even. “It’ll take a lot more than this to knock me down. Afterall, if there is something going on in the department, it needs to be investigated…” A wistful look covered her face. “Your senses as a cat are stronger than a human right?” Andromeda nodded slowly, trying to catch up with the auror’s thoughts, but not quite succeeding. “Could you smell if someone is sick or spelled?” Once more Andromeda nodded, this time a bit more firmly. Of course she could, it was definitely a benefit of being an animagus.

She stood up on the settee cushion, dislodging Queenie’s fingers from her fur. _If_ she was right, she knew where Tina was going with this thought. If she could get close to Percival, she could possibly determine what was wrong with him and relay it back to the sisters, who could then sort it out.

Much to Queenie’s dismay, Tina was working through their plan between bites of their dinner, not really concentrating on anything else but how to smuggle a cat into the building and into the department that she is now no longer a part of. Queenie supplied translation occasionally, but she seemed loathe to do it at the dinner table, claiming that work didn’t belong there, her lovely face frowning a little as she notified them of this.

That night, Andromeda couldn’t quite sleep well, anticipation of the next day keeping her awake instead of sacked out fast asleep on the end cushion of the settee, where she had been sleeping for the past few days. Both sisters, bless their hearts had offered her the spare bedroom, where there were two comfy looking beds, but she had assured them that as a cat, she didn’t need a bed, instead only requiring a small amount of room. She had also decided that, first, she wasn’t planning on staying a cat for long and second, in the bedroom, she felt as if she was impinging on their space, but oddly, on the settee, she didn’t.

When she was human again, she wouldn’t be able to thank both Goldstein sisters enough. She had tried to mentally thank Queenie, but every time she did, she got told off, so she had been trying to hold back a little, gaining the impression she was annoying Queenie more than anything and so she had tried to reduce it down a little.

Eventually, despite her brain whirring constantly at her, she got to sleep, woken up by the sounds of someone moving around in the living room.

She opened her eyes to find Tina stood, ready for work, pouring porridge into a bowl. Tina then filled a shallow bowl of water and placed it on the floor, where Andromeda went over and began to drink. Most people would be humiliated, but she figured that either she drank and ate like a cat or she starved because her ego was too big, which would be more of a humiliation in the long run, in her mind at least.

Queenie then came out of the bedroom fully dressed too as she was also working today, but she had with her a small purse today that wasn’t part of her normal attire. She handed it over to Tina who placed it next to her on the table and grabbed out her wand with her right hand, as she shovelled porridge into her mouth with her left. Andromeda was impressed by the show of multi-tasking.

Tina threw a few spells at the purse and soon, no thanks to her sensitive feline senses, the ozone that she could smell made her sneeze. She shook herself off and looked up at the sisters with her head crooked to one side. It had become a habit over the last few days to show her confusion and she knew that it would bleed into her human form when she had returned to it. “I’ve put an extension charm on it and a couple of notice-me-nots. This is how we’re gonna sneak you into MACUSA, as the doormen and Red both know what you look like as a cat,” Tina explained as she completed the last flourish with her wand. She then reached down to place the bag onto the floor, it’s opening facing Andromeda. “It’s nothin’ fancy, sorry for that.”

Andromeda let out a small mewl that would have said _don’t worry_ if she could damn _speak_. She poked her head into the bag. It wasn’t too bad-slightly cramped, but plenty of room for her in her petite feline form.

It turned out to be a little bit of a squished ride into MACUSA, but it served its purpose as Andromeda was let out of the purse twenty minutes later, in a corridor that was out of the way of prying eyes. Queenie gave her a quick “good luck” before she was walking to her work and Andromeda was wondering where she would start.

She left the corridor, sticking to the walls and ducking in and out of corridors where necessary. She had never thanked the labyrinth of the corridors in MACUSA before this point, but today, they were completely necessary for her feat to stay hidden.

It didn’t take long before Andromeda was entering the Magical Security department, ducking out of the way of someone who was holding an armful of files, concentrating more on not hitting anyone than what was around their feet. Andromeda then slipped under Tina’s desk, less cluttered than normal, but still smelling of her. As the desk wasn’t being used at the moment, she figured most people wouldn’t look towards it and it gave her a great viewpoint of Graves’ office from where she was laying beneath the drawers.

Slipping her tail around her lithe body, she made herself as comfortable as possible as she was likely to be here for the long-haul.

In the first hour (approximately-time was going really slow, just staring at a closed door) she got very bored, her only amusement in the form of the auror conversations and the odd memo mouse that diverted from their path that would startle with a _peep_ when they saw her, before running away at their fastest speed. She had never noticed that the origami and animation spell gave them instincts as well, but it was fun for her to observe and think over, considering how this might help or hinder the memo mice from getting to their destinations.

She was thinking about the logistics of how other animation spells might give the enchanted items base instincts when Percival’s office door opened and she bristled, attention captured. Not-Percival merely barked orders to his aurors unfeelingly and walked back to his office, before turning back on the room and observing proceedings for just a moment.

She then saw him reach for his wand and with a flick, Andromeda felt herself be pulled from under the desk and was dragged along the floor, trying to grab onto passing objects, but failing. The next thing that she noted was that she was grabbed by the scruff of her neck and _Not-Percival_ was walking across the room with her in his grip.

A silencing charm must have been performed as she attempted to mewl and hiss, but no sounds came out. Despite trying her hardest, being held at the scruff of her neck meant that scratching and biting were not viable options, no matter how she tried.

She mentally yelled to alert Queenie of what was happening, but by the time that she had thought to do this, they were in the Atrium and _Not-Percival_ had disapparated from MACUSA and they were now in a dingy, damp and dark room, where she recognised the smell that had permeated _Not-Percival’s_ scent and caught her attention initially in the warehouse.

In the room, she also recognised a sickly sweet, but repelling scent that took her back to her childhood home of Penrose Manor, when her parents had had visitors and she had met Gellert Grindelwald for the first time. Her mind blanched at the principle that it was Grindelwald who had infiltrated MACUSA.

In the time that it took her to realise who _Not-Percival_ was, a collar had been spelled around her neck, connected to a long, thin chain that was attached to the wall and Grindelwald had left the room once more.

Andromeda’s feline vision worked quickly to accommodate to the dark, allowing her to see that she was not alone in the room. There was a man sat on the floor with his hands chained above his head. She could see that he had no shirt and no trousers on, only underwear. There were cuts on his torso and legs in varying states of healing, some weeping and some scabbing over, the smell of blood and infection permeating the air. His head was leaned back against the wall as he appeared to sleep, not aware that he was no longer alone.

Despite the fact that his hair was not shaped, he was not wearing his normal attire and he had evidently lost some weight recently, she was still able to recognise this man as the real Percival Graves and she noted that that was the smell that she could recognise, alongside other smells that she really didn’t want to identify, as they were already making her delicate senses begin to revolt.

Sensitive ears were able to hear that Graves was struggling a little with his breathing, a slight wheeze as he breathed out, but other than that, there was nothing immediately worrying to her healer mind, although she wanted nothing more than to help him, especially with the multitude of wounds that she could see. However, right now, she was chained to the wall, just far enough away that she couldn’t reach him, and she has paws and not hands. She tried to mewl to gain his attention, but it seemed that the silencing charm was still in effect, much to her dismay.

She had no clock to support her thoughts, but she was sure that about five hours had passed of her trying to mewl, pull on the chain and trying to get her claws underneath the collar to break it open before there was a throaty, rusty moan from across the room. Andromeda paused, wondering if her moving the chains had unintentionally woken Percival from his slumber.

When his eyes opened, it was a slow affair that had Andromeda slightly worried for Percival’s physical and mental health, wondering if there was more damage than she had originally seen.

His eyes scoured the room, falling on her dark shadow. A black cat in a dark room was not always easy to see, even with white paws, but he was still able to locate her, probably from years of honing observation skills as an auror.

“A cat?” Percival didn’t seem to be speaking to her, more mumbling to himself, as if he needed to confirm his own thoughts to himself. “What the hell is that madman playing at putting a cat in here?” His voice cracked as he spoke, making Andromeda internally wince at the sound.

Andromeda tried to mewl again, with no avail. Instead, she tried a purr, which seemed just to work around the silencing charm, the low thrumming a mere shadow of her normal purr, but a reassuring sound, nonetheless. It meant that the silencing charm was beginning to wear, which is understandable as it had been a quickly thrown spell without much thought behind it.

“Hey there,” Percival greeted in a low voice, designed to be comforting and approachable, probably thinking that she’s a normal housecat from the streets at the moment.

She pushed against the animagus charm as she had been doing for the last few days, checking its potency and hoping for an end to her forced stint in her feline body. It had been a stressful few days of knowing that her change was not with her consent and she was unable to do anything about it. It was also stressful when she would push against the charm to feel nothing. This time however, there was a reaction.

A small spark of magic flew through her body-magic that she recognised as her own, making her fur stand on end. It wasn’t enough to change her back, but it did mean that the spell was waning and soon enough she would be able to change back.

She continued her purr, as she wasn’t able to speak as a human or a feline now, hoping that it was reassuring to Percival to have some kind of proof that he was no longer alone. Within a few minutes, Percival was mumbling something about conjuring up the cat to keep him company, something about the Graves family always having cats as pets as he was growing up, before he was falling asleep once more.

Andromeda felt sorry for him, to know that he is trapped and beginning to think that his own mind is now hallucinating to make him feel better. This must have been especially difficult for a man who is as independent and strong-willed as Percival is.

She went back to attacking the collar for a short while, happy that she could feel the leather fraying under the pads of her paws, although her neck was beginning to ache from the collar chafing.

If her estimations were correct, it was another three hours of attacking the collar before she had felt her claws begin to split under the pressure, and her paws felt pushed to their limits. Unable to continue for now, she decided to try to sleep. The floor was not completely uncomfortable in her feline form, as she was able to curl up and find a position where she was supported by her own body.

Andromeda already knows from past experience that in her animagus form, she’s an even lighter sleeper than her human form, so she’s safe in the knowledge that any sound made will wake her up and so she allows herself to sleep, despite the deplorable situation that she is in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is more to come, I just need to write and edit the next chapters. Hopefully they flow well.   
> I can't promise that the rest of the story will be written quickly, but I can promise that I have not given up on it. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read it and give comments :)


	8. A fluffy nundu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Andromeda to make a break out.  
> I don't want to spoil anything, so go ahead and have a read. Hopefully, you enjoy reading :)

When she wakes up, Andromeda immediately notices that she is still in animagus form, but her hackles are raised when she realises that she is not in the Goldstein flat. The previous day returns to her with far too much clarity to be fair and she supresses a groan at her current situation. She opens her eyes and focuses in on Graves. She can hear him breathing, but it’s not the healthiest of sounds with a crackle and wheeze with every breath. She can’t help but wince, knowing that his recovery won’t be a quick one, even if the physical problems can be fixed in a mere few days, a week at longest.

She wants to check up on him properly, give him a full medical check, but she is unable to do that at the moment, especially without her wand, or her hands.

A moment passed and her brain suddenly pinged with pride and enthusiasm. She had been on the raid when she had been changed, which therefore means that her human form still has her coat and her wand, which she can use to promptly warm up Percival, check him over and then break out of this hell hole.

With brand new determination, she claws at the collar, no longer thinking about how she can feel her claws breaking, instead of getting them out of here.

She feels the cold hard buckle of the collar catch on one of her claws, ripping it from the sheath, but where her paw is, she can push against it while pulling her entire body back against the material, until she feels the collar slip over her head.

The sound of the collar clattering on the floor is satisfying, although she can’t help but wonder why Grindelwald didn’t put magic suppressing cuffs on her. He had seen her at her family home, he knew that Anastacia Penrose forcer her only daughter into the cuffs that drained her magical essence and he really ought to have noticed how much they affected her by the end of it. Still, like a dark mage, he had never once batted an eyelid at the treatment that one of his key followers gave to her daughter, but not her son, all because of the house in Hogwarts that they were put in.

Adamantius was a perfect Slytherin, although he always tried to be as kind as possible, while Andromeda fit right into Ravenclaw, despite her mother’s warning that not being in Slytherin would make them have less of a rank than a house elf at Penrose Manor.

She was here because she could recognise Grindelwald, why not make it harder for her to escape? She pondered the why’s of the situation, but she threw the thoughts to the back of her mind, believing that he might not have had a plan, and if he did, it wasn’t likely to be logical-he’s a madman, clever, but mad.

The thrum of magic that she had felt before was much stronger now. She began to go through the motions of transforming back into her human form, imagining the feel of her medical instruments and wand in her hands, the feel of running her fingers through her hair and the taste of tea on her lips. She was slightly distracted as she noted that she hasn’t had a proper cup of tea for almost four days.

The feeling of changing back after so long trapped in her animagus form was both enthralling, as she was human again and terrifying, as her magic returned to her all at once, leading to a few sparks flying from her fingertips and falling to the floor before she could prevent it.

A quick movement of her hand allowed her to grab her wand. It felt a little irritated with her, Chimera wands tending to be more temperamental than most and feeling left out or abandoned if not used for a few days. As a sign of its irritation, the wand warmed, slightly on the hotter side than comfortable, before returning to its normal level, ready to work to her will, after reprimanding her as required.

She threw a quick diagnostic spell towards Percival, allowing it to bathe his body in a light blue light, reeling off streams of information above him. Only when she noted that he wasn’t in immediate danger, did she relax, refocusing herself instead.

She pointed her wand forward and set off an _alohamora_ towards the chains that held Percival in place, but nothing happened, other than gaining a small groan from their captive, but not quite waking him up. She then tried a few more unlocking spells that she had learned to no avail.

Her mind was running through all the possible ways to unlock the chains when a spell popped into her head. It was from a book that she had read when she was 12 years old from the attic of Penrose Manor. The book had originally been cast off to the side as an artefact that wasn’t important.

Only when she had shown her brother had she noticed why. He was not able to read the book, instead only seeing blank pages, where she could see words. She had never been able to understand this peculiarity, but thankfully, her brother had kept it secret, especially as some of the spells were particularly macabre and would be disastrous in the wrong hands. The spell that came to mind was from this book. Her wand moves in tight, circular motions and her concentration is strong as she persuades strong grass roots to grow in the middle of the brick, guiding them to break free of their mortar prison like tentacles, gently brushing the cool air. With a flick of her wrist, the grass tendrils were bolstered with magic as they were each fed into a lock, forcing the mechanisms apart until the locks broke away.

Despite the headache that the concentration and the ancient magic had caused, she felt a burst of pride flow through her system, especially with the knowledge that she had allowed Percival to escape the chains when the spell was originally designed for slow torture, to pin down a person and squeeze the life out of each limb before suffocating the person to death (very macabre, like most of the rest of the book).

The jolt of having his arms raised for so long and now being lowered slowly, held steady by the magic that Andromeda hadn’t even registered sending out, made Percival groan and stir awake.

His eyes were groggy and unclear for just a moment before focusing on her, allowing his arms to be lowered fully with only a slight wince. “Miss Penrose, what are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story Percival.” Her voice sounded foreign to her after so many days of mewling and purring. She gave a sigh, looking over him with a critical eye. He looked gaunt and sallow, his voice quiet and hoarse. She hated to think it, but he almost looked vulnerable.

She kneels at his side and conjures a glass with her wand, before tapping it with the tip of her wand and filling it halfway with clear, cool water. “Small sips,” she commands as she brings the glass to Percival’s lips, surprised when he obeys her.

“Do you know where we are?” he asks as he shifts himself up the wall with an attempt to cover the pained grunt that accompanies. Now that he’s had a drink, he seems a bit more alert. She spells the glass away, knowing that she can conjure a new one should she need it.

“No, I’m afraid not,” she pauses. “Where does Grindelwald usually enter?” She was hoping so much that Percival could direct her to a specific wall and not say that Grindelwald just apparates in.

“You knew then? He said no-one had noticed.” Andromeda’s heart bleeds for the man, as he sounds so heartbroken at the thought that his own aurors don’t know that he was missing. She had noticed, but not reacted to the fact that he had also winced when Grindelwald’s name had been mentioned.

“I don’t think you want the details – not just yet anyway,” Andromeda claims airily, trying to change the subject.

Percival narrows his sunken eyes at her before pointing to the wall on her right. “He walks through the wall.”

Andromeda walks to the wall and reaches a hand forward, feeling a burst of magic across her fingertips. The wall crackled in warning at her and she pulled her hand away, afraid of the spells that Grindelwald had cast.

Instead, she puts away her wand. “What are you doing?”

Andromeda turns to face Percival with a small grin on her face. “Grindelwald is smart. He would have set these traps for you and your aurors, meaning that no-one can easily get in or out. The trick then is to not think like an auror, whereby I have the benefit, because I am _not_ an auror.”

She allows her magic to flood her veins, removing all the imagery that she has worked on to make her seem less powerful and more approachable to others. Andromeda was born into the Penrose family; she knows that she is powerful, and she knows that she can use this power now to outwit Grindelwald, who was expecting the most powerful person to be Percival, one of the Original Twelve bloodline, but he has been weakened. No, Andromeda is powerful, her need to heal and the bloodline of an ancient family on her side.

She can feel her coat whipping around her as the winds that her magic creates pick up in the room. Andromeda creates focus blasts of magic - so quickly that most people wouldn’t be able to see it – toward the wall, around the magic signature. Each blast was connected to the wall with a thin chain of her unbounded magic, before she focused them all into the centre of the wall, watching with satisfaction as the bricks began to fall away, rumbling out of their position to show a room beyond.

She leaves up the bricks around the edge, just in case this wall supports something above them, but the space is plenty big enough for both of them to cross through.

Now that she’s done rumbling the bricks free, she notices that she feels slightly wild in a way that she has never really felt before as her magic sings through her entire body and the air around her, leaving a slight ozone in its wake. She feels feral. She then grasps her wand and points and flicks toward the bricks, making them move themselves to the side, creating a lovely neat pile that isn’t likely to fall accidently and hurt someone.

Andromeda can’t help but beam when she turns around and sees the gaping expression on Percival’s face. “I always knew you were strong Andromeda, but I had never expected something like that.”

Andromeda chuckles as she moves toward him, shrugging off her coat as she goes along and hanging it over her arm, as if the room was a warm summers day rather than feeling like they were sat in a puddle of ice water. She extends her hand to him and is not surprised when Percival pushes himself onto all fours, evidently biting his lip to prevent a noise from escaping and pushing himself up onto his knees and then his feet.

He wobbles when he stands and Andromeda steps closer to be a support should he require it. He’s holding onto the wall and looks a little pasty, as if going to fall back to floor at any second. Andromeda fetches one of the bricks and with a bit of concentration spells it to be a nightshirt. It might be a little coarse, but it would do the job of covering Percival at least a little. She prompts him to put his arms through the sleeves, holding onto him to ensure that he doesn’t lose his balance before she spells the buttons shut, allowing it to fall down to his knees to give a semblance of dignity.

Andromeda then spells her coat to be a little bigger and wider before draping it over his shoulder and sticking it into place, using the nightshirt as a base. She can always reduce the size of the coat later on, but right now, he needs it much more than her. With a quick protection spell towards his feet to prevent them gaining splinters, cuts or damage from the floor, she then stands to his right side. This allows her to drape his right arm over her neck and act as a support while she still has her wand ready in her right hand.

The first few steps are the worst, both trying to find a rhythm and Percival trying to lean the tiniest amount of weight on her as possible, despite needing the support with how weak he was. Andromeda huffs. “I won’t break Percival.”

“It’s…hardly…gentle…manly,” he puffs, and Andromeda considers taking a break to allow Percival to catch his breath again.

“It isn’t about being gentlemanly Percival. It’s about -“ Andromeda was cut off by a low whine. One of which she recognised.

“What…was that?”

Andromeda ignored his question, ears trying to pick up another noise. A small growl came from the end of the corridor. “Hello?”

A great lumbering figure came around the end of the corridor, golden eyes fixed on the people ahead of it. It had tawny fur and a ruff of spikes around its neck, alongside long fangs that poked over its bottom lip. To anyone else the nundu would look terrifying. To her, it was nothing more than beautiful and brilliant, a sign of hope and someone very familiar.

“Hello Daisy,” she greeted, slyly smiling at her cousin’s choice of name for one of the deadliest beasts known to the world.

“What?!” The incredulous, breathless pant from Percival preceded his weight becoming heavier on her shoulder as he promptly began to lose consciousness. It was a quick judgement and many years as a healer that had her lowering Percival to the floor slowly, calmly and safely, without injuring anyone.

She did a quick diagnostic check to make sure that he was in fact okay before stepping forward and giving Daisy a scratch under her chin, making her six-foot body seep in delight as she crouched down for more attention that Andromeda was happy to give.

“Where’s Newt?” she asked quietly to Daisy. Daisy’s response was to shake her head from the pleasure induced stupor and raise her head to howl softly into the air, the sound flooding the area around them and making her own chest rumble from the vibrations.

It takes no more than two minutes of low howling for footsteps to be heard through the corridor, leading Andromeda to raise her wand, despite being sure that she knows at least one of the people that will be gracing her with their appearance.

Sure enough, a familiar blue coat can be seen as the group turns the corner and Andromeda is off like a shot to greet her cousin. “Newt.” She grasps him in a hug and in a surprising turn of events, Newt hugs her back. It’s only a light tap on her back, but it was progress. She was sure that he would forgive her.

Behind him, she noticed Tina and Queenie Goldstein as well as Aurors Collins and Jameson.

“The Director,” one of the aurors exclaims and begins to walk towards him, only to have the massive nundu decide that he’s not allowed. Thankfully, the auror has enough common sense to back away.

“He’s not in an immediately critical condition, but he does need to be seen to soon,” Andromeda explains and sees the aurors nod still staring at the furry obstacle in their way.

She spies Newt’s case and before she has a chance to say anything, he’s already placing it on the floor and opening it up. He allows Daisy to re-enter the case first, after giving her reassurances that both Andromeda and Percival will be looked after before levitating the Director of Magical Security into the case too.

Tina looks a little struck, as if not knowing what to do. Andromeda places her hand on Tina’s shoulder and gives her a small smile before notifying them briefly of where the room that they had recently departed from was. She then noted that Newt still had his case open on the floor, looking at her. She was eternally glad that Newt had considered her getting into the case too, as she wasn’t too sure that she had the energy to disapparate to St Augustus Hospital without splinching herself, not with the adrenaline and the amount of magic that she had used recently.  

She gives him a quick peck on the cheek and disappears slowly into the case after Percival. He’s lying on the shed floor when she enters and Andromeda wastes no time in levitating him to the small cot in the corner of the room to make sure that he’s still in the safe area of alright, probably more out of fear and training than necessity.

When she goes to fetch a sheet of parchment from the shelf, Andromeda notices that Daisy is laying down at the entrance to the shed, large head laying on her forepaws as she watches everything that Andromeda does. Despite Andromeda having know Daisy since she was a cub, in a bad condition and needing some TLC and healing, it is Daisy who has taken on the witch as her own little cub. Ever since they met, Daisy has always been protective of Andromeda. Newt had given the speculation that it might be because Andromeda is an animagus of a cat and Daisy associates that feline species as one of her own, but Andromeda can’t be too sure.

She stops to give Daisy some scritches between her eyes and ears that leave her in a puddle of pleasure, purring happily to herself before Andromeda grabs a sheet of parchment and retrieves a pen from Newt’s desk and begins to write her report of what happened as a personal statement, ensuring that there is detail in Percival’s injuries at the time of her finding him. As she does so, she keeps an eye on Percival’s condition and Daisy from where she is sat staring at Andromeda’s every move.

It isn’t long before they reach St Augustus’ Hospital, where Newt comes into the case to notify her, apparently worried what Daisy might do to anyone else who entered the case and what they might subsequently do to her if she allowed her protective instinct to take hold.

Andromeda allows Newt to levitate Percival from the case and with a lingering fuss for Daisy, Andromeda is exiting the case and handing over everything that she has to her healers, getting thoroughly stuck into her work, wand calling for potions and phials to aid her in her job of making Percival as comfortable and stable as possible.

Here she is in her element - that is until she’s finished stabilising his condition and treating everything that’s completely necessary. Then her body realises that she’s had too much adrenaline and not enough sleep and the last thing that she registers is Healer Bandros running towards her with his wand outstretched and an unhappy expression on his face, as he’s shouting what sounds like a cushioning spell while the world begins to go black around her and the floor comes up to meet her slowly and softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's ended like this, another chapter is on it's way.   
> Thank you for being on the journey so far. I hope you've been enjoying it :)


	9. Waking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, this chapter focuses on Percival waking up after the ordeal.  
> Hopefully this answers some questions, but I can't be sure it will, as I've been writing this story over such a long time. I hope it makes sense.  
> Enjoy :)

 

The pain in his body had also reduced greatly, now at levels that he could manage with, only sitting just before below the surface, dimmed and less striking. His natural affinity for magical signatures told him that he was not alone in the room.

Without opening his eyes, he could tell that the signature belonged to Andromeda Penrose. Thinking about her, he thinks about waking in the room with Andromeda breaking his bonds before tearing down the wall brick by brick with wandless magic, looking more powerful in that moment than he had ever seen before. He then remembers the sight of a nundu greeting them in the corridor and Andromeda greeting it as Maisy or Daisy. _Morgana._ She had acted as if the nundu was nothing more than a kitten, harmless and cute. He doesn’t remember anything after that.

Opening his eyes is a feat in itself as the room is a clinical white colour that burns into his retinas, needing a few times to finally manage to open his eyes without wincing too much. 

Relief floods his system, as he thinks about no longer being a prisoner to Grindelwald. He can only hope that this is not another trick, otherwise, he isn't sure that he would be able to cope. He tries to put the terrifying thought to the back of his mind as he looks around the room, happy to turn away from the light above him.

Turning his head, he sees Andromeda sitting on a chair by the foot of the bed, leaning onto the bed and laying her head onto her crossed arms that rest on the surface of the mattress above the blankets that neatly cover the bed. She is fast asleep and he can hear her soft and steady breathing. Now, he notices that she isn’t in her normal clothes, instead in a plain light blue dress that falls to her knees, a white belt adorning the middle and what looks like white lapels sitting by her collar bones. Her hair is down for once, much longer than he had first thought, as it was always tied back. Her hair is messy as it flows down her back and side and he is sure that she’s actually leaning on a few bits of her hair from how it seems to tuck under arms. The side of her face facing him is mostly clear of hair, apparently all of it swept over to the other side and some even onto the bed.

The scar that he noticed early on is noticeable now that she is not wearing a neckerchief, contrasting her skin greatly and showing up in the clinical lighting. The scar still looks painful and he can see redness near her chin, going up from where the scar sits.

Percival moves up the bed very slowly, trying not to nudge Andromeda, but it seems that he is unsuccessful as she jolts awake, hair flowing over her face as she sits up, back audibly cracking as she does so, making him wince a little in sympathy.

“Oh, you’re awake,” is what Percival thinks she says as it’s spoken around a hand that covers her mouth from the yawn escaping.

In a move that resembles long-standing practice, she flicks her hair over her shoulder and a quick run of her fingers through her hair has it tying itself up into a loose plait that ties with a dark blue ribbon at the end of it. The plait then sits over her shoulder comfortably, in a style that resembles what he’s seen before.

She rubs her eyes a little before looking at him. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine Andromeda. Shouldn’t you be at home?”

She chuckles at him and sweeps her hands across her skirt to reduce the wrinkles that have set into the fabric. “Fine has many different terms Percival and you of all people know that fine is not a word that I incorporate into my understanding of how a patient feels. Furthermore, I probably should be at home, but I felt that I ought to check up on you and then I must have fallen asleep without meaning to, I must admit.”

“Breathe Andromeda.” He had never known her to speak so quickly and blurting words at him so much as she was right now. It made him wonder how bad the situation was.

“Sorry Percival.” She takes a deep breath and lets it go slowly.

“What’s wrong?”

She smiles at him, leaning back in the chair demurely. “Nothing’s wrong.” She sounds much calmer now although her answer was a smidge too quick.

“What happened?” he asked, thinking that changing the topic might help. “Grindelwald had no problems with gloating that no-one noticed that I was missing and the next thing I know, you’re stood there, trapped with me.”

“I do hope you’re comfortable, it might be a bit of a long story.” He nodded and she continued to tell him about how she was forced into her animagus form, that she had noticed something wrong with Graves and his aurors had noticed, but assumed that he was a bit stressed, although that was more that Grindelwald was an excellent actor rather than Percival’s demeanour, she felt the need to notify him heavily of this.

She then went on to say that she has gotten Tina Goldstein to contact her cousin for help and she had gone home with Tina and Queenie as a housepet, although she seemed very put-out by this point, although vehemently explaining that it was not because of Tina or Queenie, but more that she was in the situation in the first place, which he related to. She then glossed over details quickly, saying that something happened to Tina at work and no, she wasn’t injured, but it wasn’t Andromeda’s place to say what it was, and she decided to go in and spy on Not-Percival. She then divulged that she had been noticed and caught and she was the small black cat with one white paw that he had seen in the room with him, although Grindelwald never put her in magic-suppressing chains.

When Percival asked when Grindelwald got unmasked, she notified him that her cousin had done so following a fight and she only found out when she woke up in the Hospital and her cousin filled her in. Percival’s question of how she knew that it wasn’t him gave him an answer that he wasn’t all too sure he had wanted to hear.

“I’ve met Grindelwald a few times before. I was very young the first time and then again when I was about 12 and then 14. He never really seemed to notice me, but he must have done to realise that I would be a threat to his disguise. The aurors believe that he was the one who Imperiused the criminal and got him out of his chains to make me indisposed so that he could continue with his plan.” Percival nodded his head in agreement, remembering something that Grindelwald had murmured about a no-good little woman getting in the way of his plans, but Grindelwald had assured him that he had taken care of it. He had assumed that it was Tina that he had been talking about, but apparently not.

She then continued, glossing over her details of how she got herself out of her bounds and how she got him out of his bounds and assuring him that he knew the rest of the details.

“Did I dream it or was there a nundu present at the warehouse?”

Andromeda smiled. “Yes. Newt had sent Daisy to come looking for us, as she recognises my scent. You see, when Newt found Daisy, she was in a state and he didn’t know many healing charms at that point, so I had offered my services. Daisy got to know me very well and Newt is determined that she has adopted me as a surrogate cub.”

“A nundu, Miss Penrose?”

“Yes Director. The smugglers who had taken Daisy had removed her poison sacks. They were a pelting service, giving out rare animal skins. They tended to have all sorts of creatures, like nundus, thunderbirds and they’d gather them when they were cubs, raise them to not be able to fight back and then skin them when they were old enough.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It is. Poor Daisy having her poison sacks removed means that she’s defenceless in the wild and so she’s got to stay with Newt instead, not that she really minds. By this point, she acts more like a housecat than a fully grown nundu.”

“You said Newt? It wouldn’t be Newt Scamander, would it?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He was yet to hear of another person called Newt.

“Yes,” she seemed pleased, but cautious that he had noticed. “Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been in correspondence with Theseus for a long time.”

 “Since the second year of both of your school years, as you both went through school at the same time. You were paired together due to the common goal of being an auror after school.” He was amazed that she knew that, and it must have shown on his face. “Theseus has mentioned you before.”

“Why did you never say?”

She looked confused. “Theseus has mentioned that he wrote to tell you about what happened to me. I just assumed that it was a personal to work life divide and left it there.”

“He has never mentioned you Andromeda,” Percival admits.

Her expression was confused but only for a moment before she ducked her head and chuckled, understanding colouring her face. When she brought up her head again, she looked him in the eyes. “Has he ever talked about Bella?”

“Yes, all the time at one point. I would always gain an update about how Bella was-“ he cut off mid-sentence, the realisation coming to him in an epiphany moment. “You’re Bella?”

“Yeah.” He couldn't help but notice that her reply almost sounded sad or upset. 

There was silence for a moment. “Why does he call you Bella?

“My full name is Andromeda Belladonna Felicity Penrose,” she explains.

“You do realise that-“

“That I was named after the deadly nightshade? I know. My mother thought it might prompt my brother and I to be a little scarier if we were adorned with poison in our names.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Percival claims.

“Trust me, I know,” she reassures before she yawns again, popping her hand over her mouth to be more polite.

“As much as your company has been lovely Miss Penrose, I think it’s time you went home and got some real rest, don’t you?”

“I suppose I really ought to agree, considering my job title,” she replied, sounding a little irritated at being moddy-coddled. To be honest, Percival was just glad that he could turn the tables on her for once, never being able to do it before this point. “You need to rest too.” She looks like she’s trying to be severe, but the bags under her eyes make her look slightly less intimidating than normal.

“I will if you will Andromeda.”

She narrows her eyes at him, but nods.

“I’ll be back tomorrow Percival. Please don’t do anything stupid, like trying to leave before you need to.” He quickly reassured her that he had no intention of leaving the hospital at the moment. At this very moment, he couldn’t be sure he could even get to the door of the room, with how tired he was feeling.

Once she had left, his tiredness took over, his final thought before succumbing to sleep was the hope that Andromeda would also gain some much-needed rest.


End file.
